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handlanger

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handlanger¹

  • /ˈhændˌlæŋə/ UK

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Afrikaans handlanger (“assistant, helper”), from Dutch handlanger (“accomplice, henchman; assistant, helper”), analyzable as hand (“hand”) + langen (“to hand over or pass to”) + -er (“-er”, agent suffix) (in the sense of someone who puts things into another person's hands), from German Handlanger (“handyman; henchman”), from Hand (“hand”) + langen (“to hand over, to give; to reach for something”) + -er (“-er”, agent suffix).

noun handlangers

  1. South Africa An unskilled assistant to an artisan. […] building himself brick by brick, with his wife as his only handlanger.
  2. South Africa, figuratively An aide, an assistant. [E]very political leader has a handlanger. Like a toddler with a security blanket, the political handlanger is a necessary sop and sponge for all the tension that goes with the job. And there is nothing either disreputable or degrading about the role. Politics can be spiteful and demanding; the hand
  3. Alternative letter-case form of Handlanger

Handlanger²

Where it comes from

Borrowed from German Handlanger (“handyman; henchman”), from Hand (“hand”) + langen (“to hand over, to give; to reach for something”) + -er (in the sense of someone who puts things into another person's hands, that is, someone whose task it is to help another person succeed). The word was loaned into Dutch and might have entered English through the Dutch form.

noun Handlangers

  1. historical A low-ranking artillery soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army. Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, by His Majeſty's Command, preſented to the Houſe, Copy of a Convention between the King of Great Britain and the States General, on the one Part; and the Empreſs Queen of Hungary and Bohemia on the other— […] Artillery. […] 12 Gunners, or Handlangers. […] 2 Drummers,

Translations

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noun unskilled assistant to an artisan

DeutschHandlanger

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MLA

"handlanger." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/handlanger. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

handlanger. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/handlanger

Chicago

"handlanger." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/handlanger.

BibTeX
@misc{handlanger_2026,
  title = {handlanger},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/handlanger},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}