handfast

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈhændˌfæst/ UK /ˈhændˌfɑːst/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a betrothal or marriage sealed by clasping hands; to pledge thus

The couple were handfast at midsummer in the old village rite.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a betrothal or marriage... betroth pledge engage plight

Word family

Derived forms handfasting

Related forms hand fast

Etymology

From Old English handfæsten or Old Norse handfesta ('to strike a bargain by joining hands'), a compound of hand and fast ('to make firm, fasten').

hand Old English fæst Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# handfast

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈhændˌfæst/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈhændˌfɑːst/

## Meanings
1. a betrothal or marriage sealed by clasping hands; to pledge thus

## Examples
- The couple were handfast at midsummer in the old village rite.

## Synonyms
- betroth
- pledge
- engage
- plight

## Derived Forms
- handfasting

## Related Forms
- hand
- fast

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: hand
- Root: fæst

## Etymology
From Old English handfæsten or Old Norse handfesta ('to strike a bargain by joining hands'), a compound of hand and fast ('to make firm, fasten').

## AI Etymology
handfast comes from Old English handfæsten or Old Norse handfesta ('to strike a bargain by joining hands'), a compound of hand and fast ('to make firm, fasten'). Morphologically, the word is best read through the components named in the history, with the modern spelling preserving a compound structure rather than a single unanalyzable stem. In present English, the noun sense is "a betrothal or marriage sealed by clasping hands; to pledge thus", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as hand and fast, and in derivatives such as handfasting. Its semantic neighborhood includes betroth, pledge, engage, and plight, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Old English hand and Old English fæst.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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