handlanger
/ˈhændˌlæŋə/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Alternative letter-case form of Handlanger.
noun
A low-ranking artillery soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army.
Example Sentences
- "[…] building himself brick by brick, with his wife as his only handlanger."
- "[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 handlanger is the trusted confidant, the one person whom the leader can sound out, seek counsel from and trust."
- "The time for talk truly is over now. The ANC will have to do the necessary, find its backbone and rein in [Jacob] Zuma, his cronies and their handlangers to avert an economic crisis happening on its watch."
- "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, at the Pay of Handlangers. […] 4 Aſſiſtants, at the Pay of Handlangers."
- "The Handlanger soldier was not a gunner or a bombardier, since he merely acted as labour on gun-sites […]"
- "After the defeat of 1809, the four artillery regiments were kept in existence, but the Handlanger-Corps was reduced to a cadre."
Etymology
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).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: handlanger
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈhændˌlæŋə/