handmaid
/ˈhændˌmeɪd/noun
handmaid is spelled H-A-N-D-M-A-I-D: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 75,877th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, handmaid means “A maid that waits at hand; a female servant or attendant” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of handmaid is handmaids.
How many letters and syllables are in handmaid?
| Letters | 8: H-A-N-D-M-A-I-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 6 million words; the 75,877th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is handmaid?
Handmaid appears about once in every 6 million words in written English, the 75,877th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce handmaid?
- US /ˈhændˌmeɪd/
Handmaid has 2 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-handmaid.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with handmaid
Sounds like: handmade (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with handmaid?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as handmaid from its last stressed vowel (/ændmeɪd/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of handmaid
- handmaids plural
- handmaiden
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does handmaid mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A maid that waits at hand; a female servant or attendant.
- 2
A moth of the species Dysauxes ancilla.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Handmaid in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense maid that waits at hand:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does handmaid come from?
Inherited from Middle English handemayde, hand-maide, handmaide, handmayd, hand mayde, hand-mayde, haundmaid, hondemayde, hondmaide, hond-mayde. By surface analysis, compound of hand + maid, the first component in the sense of "ready at hand".
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).