handmaiden
noun
handmaiden is spelled H-A-N-D-M-A-I-D-E-N: 10 letters. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,913th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, handmaiden means “Alternative form of handmaid” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of handmaiden is handmaidens.
How many letters and syllables are in handmaiden?
| Letters | 10: H-A-N-D-M-A-I-D-E-N |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 65,913th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
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).
How common is handmaiden?
Handmaiden appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 65,913th 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 handmaiden?
- US
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-handmaiden.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of handmaiden
- handmaidens plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does handmaiden mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Alternative form of handmaid.
- 2
derogatoryA cisgender woman who supports transgender rights.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does handmaiden come from?
From Middle English hande mayden, handmaiden, hand mayden, hand-mayden, handmayden, hondemaiden, hond maydyn, hoondmaydyn. By surface analysis, hand + maiden. Sense 2 is an allusion to Canadian writer Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985), in which "handmaids" are women who serve the male commanders in a patriarchal dystopia.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).