different between handy vs proficient

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 Latin proficiens, present participle of proficere (“to go forward, advance, make progress, succeed, be profitable or useful”), from pro (“forth, forward”) + facere (“to make, do”); see fact.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /p???f??.?nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /p?o??f??.?nt/, /p???f??.?nt/
• Rhymes: -???nt

Adjective

proficient (comparative more proficient, superlative most proficient)

1. Good at something; skilled; fluent; practiced, especially in relation to a task or skill.

   He was a proficient writer with an interest in human nature.

   • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 5

     By constant playing and experimenting with these he learned to tie rude knots, and make sliding nooses; and with these he and the younger apes amused themselves. What Tarzan did they tried to do also, but he alone originated and became proficient.

Synonyms

• (good at): skilled, fluent, practiced

Translations

Noun

proficient (plural proficients)

1. An expert.
   • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 10, [1]

     Why not subpoena as well the clerical proficients?

Synonyms

• (expert): expert; see also Thesaurus:skilled person

Translations

Related terms

• profit
• profitability
• profitable
• profiteer
• proficiency

Further reading

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

Latin

Verb

pr?ficient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of pr?fici?