handsome
/ˈhæn.səm/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.22 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
adj
adj
adj
adj
adj
Example Sentences
- "That is one handsome tree you've got there."
- "I saw, I confess, some good dancing and some handsome women, which was all my pleasure."
- "At the farther end of this great lamp-lit apartment was another doorway closed in with heavy Oriental-looking curtains, quite unlike those that hung before the doors of our own rooms, and here stood two particularly handsome girl mutes, their heads bowed upon their bosoms and their hands crossed in an attitude of humble submission."
- "On the opposite side of the street, on the corner, is the city hall, a very handsome building of brick and stone."
- "The mother, Ekaterina Pavlovna, who at one time had been handsome, but now, asthmatic, depressed, vague, and over-feeble for her years, tried to entertain me with conversation about painting. Having heard from her daughter that I might come to Shelkovka, she had hurriedly recalled two or three of my landscapes which she had seen in exhibitions in Moscow, and now asked what I meant to express by them."
- "In recent times the Samoyed, one of the handsomest breeds, has become popular as a show dog in England and the U.S."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *handuz Proto-West Germanic *handu Old English hand Middle English hond Proto-Indo-European *sem- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *somHós Proto-Germanic *samaz Proto-Germanic *-samaz Proto-West Germanic *-sam Old English -sum Middle English -som Middle English hondsom English handsome From Middle English handsum, hondsom, equivalent to hand + -some. Compare Dutch handzaam, German Low German handsaam. The original sense was “easy to handle or use”, hence “suitable” and “apt, clever” (mid-16th century), giving rise to the current appreciatory senses (late 16th century).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
more handsome (comparative)
handsomer (comparative)
most handsome (superlative)
handsomest (superlative)
handsomes (present, singular)
handsoming (participle, present)
handsomed (participle, past)
handsomed (past)