different between handy vs beneficial

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English handy, hondi (attested in personal names), alteration of earlier hendi (“handy, skillful”), from Old English hendi? (“skillful”) (as in listhendi? (“skilled in art”)), from Proto-Germanic *handugaz (“handy, skillful, nimble”), from *handuz (“hand”), equivalent to hand +? -y. Cognate with Middle Low German handich (“skillful, apt”), Middle High German handec, hendec (“manual, hand-held”), Old Norse h?ndugr (“efficient”), Gothic ???????????????????????????? (handugs, “wise, clever”). Akin to Dutch handig (“handy”), Norwegian hendig (“handy”), Swedish händig (“handy”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: h?n'di, IPA^(key): /?hæn.di/
• Rhymes: -ændi

Adjective

handy (comparative handier, superlative handiest)

1. Easy to use, useful.

2. Nearby, within reach.

   Synonym: at hand

3. Of a person: dexterous, skilful.

   Synonym: crafty

4. (slang) Physically violent; tending to use one's fists.
5. Of a freight ship: having a small cargo capacity (less than 40,000 DWT); belonging to the handysize class.

Derived terms

• handily
• handiness
• unhandy

Antonyms

• awkward

Translations

References

• handy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• handy in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• handy at OneLook Dictionary Search

Etymology 2

hand +? -y (“diminutive suffix”)

Noun

handy (plural handies)

1. (vulgar, slang) A hand job.

Translations

Etymology 3

Clipping of handgun +? -y (“diminutive suffix”)

Noun

handy (plural handies)

1. (MLE, slang) A handgun.

Translations

Anagrams

• Haydn

Scots

Adjective

handy (comparative handier, superlative handiest)

1. handy
2. dexterous, skilful
3. amenable (of an animal)

English

Etymology

From Late Latin benefici?lis (“beneficial”), from Latin beneficium (“benefit, favor, kindness”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: b?n?f?sh'?l, IPA^(key): /?b?n??f???l/

Adjective

beneficial (comparative more beneficial, superlative most beneficial)

1. Helpful or good to something or someone.

2. Relating to a benefice.

Synonyms

• (helpful or good): advantageous, behooveful (archaic), helpful, useful
• (relating to a benefice): usufructuary, usufructuous

Antonyms

• maleficial, nocuous, damaging, harmful (doing harm to someone)
• innocuous, undamaging, harmless (doing no harm; doing neither harm nor good)

Derived terms

• beneficialness
• beneficial owner

Translations

Noun

beneficial (plural beneficials)

1. Something that is beneficial.