handicap

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Something that makes it harder to do or achieve something.

   His lack of experience was a real handicap in the interview.

2. 2
   noun

   In sport, an advantage given to a weaker competitor to make the contest fairer.

   The faster runner started with a handicap of ten meters.

3. 3
   verb

   To put someone at a disadvantage.

   The candidate was handicapped by her lack of experience.

Simplified etymology

Handicap comes from hand in cap, the name of a barter game in which one person claimed an article belonging to another and offered something in exchange. An umpire judged the difference in value, all three participants deposited forfeits in a cap, and the two opponents indicated agreement or disagreement with the valuation by withdrawing their hands full or empty. The shortened form is recorded from the mid-17th century. It was later applied to horse racing, where an umpire assigned weights to equalize the horses’ chances, and in the late 19th century it came to denote a mental or physical condition that limited a person.

From hand-in-cap, in reference to holding the game stakes in a cap.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary