handbreadth

English

Etymology

Alteration (due to breadth) of Middle English handbrede, hondbrede (“handbreadth”); equivalent to hand +‎ breadth. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Houndebratte (“handbreadth”), West Frisian hânbreedte (“handbreadth”), Dutch handbreedte (“handbreadth”), German Handbreite (“handbreadth”) and Handbreit, Swedish handsbredd (“handbreadth”), Norwegian håndsbredd (“handbreadth”), Icelandic handbreidd (“handbreadth”).

Noun

handbreadth (plural handbreadths)

1. A space equal to the breadth of the hand; a palm.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalm 39:5:

     Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee:

   • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XXIII, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:

     […] I saw the library casement open a handbreadth; I knew I might be watched thence; so I went apart into the orchard.

   • 1928, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, chapter 14, in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Gutenberg edition, [Florence, Italy]: [ […] Tipografia Giuntina, […]], →OCLC; republished as Lady Chatterley’s Lover (eBook no. 0100181h.html)‎, Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, August 2011, archived from the original on 11 November 2020:

     She followed him into the scullery, and combed her hair before the handbreadth of mirror by the back door.

Synonyms

• (Judaism) tefach, tefah

Translations

A measurement - the width of a hand

Hungarian: tenyérnyi (hu) Maori: whānuitanga ringa Middle English: hondbrede Welsh: dyrnfedd f