"handmaiden" meaning in All languages combined

See handmaiden on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-handmaiden.wav Forms: handmaidens [plural]
Etymology: 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 poet Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985), in which "handmaids" are women who serve the male commanders in a patriarchal dystopia. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|hande mayden}} Middle English hande mayden, {{surf|en|hand|maiden}} By surface analysis, hand + maiden, {{langname|en}} English, {{senseno|en|feminist woman who supports transgender rights|uc=1}} Sense 2 Head templates: {{en-noun}} handmaiden (plural handmaidens)
  1. Alternative form of handmaid. Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: handmaid Categories (topical): Female people, The Handmaid's Tale
    Sense id: en-handmaiden-en-noun--ABR8uOv Disambiguation of Female people: 58 42 Disambiguation of The Handmaid's Tale: 73 27 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 69 31 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 76 24 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 85 15
  2. (gender-critical slang, derogatory) A feminist woman who supports transgender rights. Tags: derogatory
    Sense id: en-handmaiden-en-noun-en:feminist_woman_who_supports_transgender_rights
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: handmaidenhood, handmaidenly

Inflected forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "handmaidenhood"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "handmaidenly"
    }
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  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "hande mayden"
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      "expansion": "Middle English hande mayden",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "hand",
        "3": "maiden"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, hand + maiden",
      "name": "surf"
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    {
      "args": {
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      },
      "expansion": "English",
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    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "feminist woman who supports transgender rights",
        "uc": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Sense 2",
      "name": "senseno"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English hande mayden, handmaiden, hand mayden, hand-mayden, handmayden, hondemaiden, hond maydyn, hoondmaydyn. By surface analysis, hand + maiden.\nSense 2 is an allusion to Canadian poet Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985), in which \"handmaids\" are women who serve the male commanders in a patriarchal dystopia.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "handmaidens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "handmaiden (plural handmaidens)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "handmaid"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "69 31",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "76 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "58 42",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Female people",
          "orig": "en:Female people",
          "parents": [
            "Female",
            "People",
            "Gender",
            "Human",
            "Biology",
            "Psychology",
            "Sociology",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Social sciences",
            "Fundamental",
            "Society"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "73 27",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "The Handmaid's Tale",
          "orig": "en:The Handmaid's Tale",
          "parents": [
            "Canadian fiction",
            "Literature",
            "Utopian and dystopian fiction",
            "Canada",
            "Fiction",
            "Culture",
            "Entertainment",
            "Writing",
            "Speculative fiction",
            "Countries",
            "Countries in North America",
            "Artistic works",
            "Society",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Language",
            "Genres",
            "Polities",
            "Places",
            "North America",
            "Art",
            "All topics",
            "Human",
            "Communication",
            "Names",
            "America",
            "Fundamental",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Earth",
            "Nouns",
            "Nature",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2019 November 21, Benjamin Mueller, “At Odds With Labour, Britain’s Jews Are Feeling Politically Homeless”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-11-13:",
          "text": "Online and over Shabbat dinners, arguments about the election have grown bitter. Those grudgingly planning to vote for Labour have been called traitors to the community and self-hating Jews. Anti-Corbyn die-hards, on the other hand, have been branded the handmaidens of a hard Brexit.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of handmaid."
      ],
      "id": "en-handmaiden-en-noun--ABR8uOv",
      "links": [
        [
          "handmaid",
          "handmaid#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2020 July 22, Julie Bindel, “Trans activists risk falling for misogyny”, in The Spectator:",
          "text": "The fact that it is not possible to be seen as a supporter of trans people's human rights, as all feminists are or at least should be, unless we fully capitulate and take the metaphorical – and sometimes literal – boot in the face shows how extreme trans activists, enabled by their handmaiden allies, are nothing but a misogynistic men’s rights movement.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 November 10, Rebecca Chandler (@RachelWilde13), Twitter:",
          "text": "Solidarity with trans people but not women[,] I note[,] Angela. Especially the boring ones who fought for rights that you now enjoy. Enjoy being a handmaiden.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 February 4, Marie Le Conte, “Feminism has been reduced to the transgender debate”, in The New Statesman:",
          "text": "I have been called a handmaiden, a “pick me” girl, and been accused of vying for male attention.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A feminist woman who supports transgender rights."
      ],
      "id": "en-handmaiden-en-noun-en:feminist_woman_who_supports_transgender_rights",
      "links": [
        [
          "gender-critical",
          "gender-critical"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "feminist",
          "feminist"
        ],
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "transgender",
          "transgender"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "gender-critical slang",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(gender-critical slang, derogatory) A feminist woman who supports transgender rights."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:feminist woman who supports transgender rights"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "wikipedia": [
    "Margaret Atwood",
    "The Handmaid's Tale"
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  "word": "handmaiden"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Female people",
    "en:The Handmaid's Tale"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "handmaidenhood"
    },
    {
      "word": "handmaidenly"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "hande mayden"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English hande mayden",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "hand",
        "3": "maiden"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, hand + maiden",
      "name": "surf"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en"
      },
      "expansion": "English",
      "name": "langname"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "feminist woman who supports transgender rights",
        "uc": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Sense 2",
      "name": "senseno"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English hande mayden, handmaiden, hand mayden, hand-mayden, handmayden, hondemaiden, hond maydyn, hoondmaydyn. By surface analysis, hand + maiden.\nSense 2 is an allusion to Canadian poet Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985), in which \"handmaids\" are women who serve the male commanders in a patriarchal dystopia.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "handmaidens",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "handmaiden (plural handmaidens)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "word": "handmaid"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2019 November 21, Benjamin Mueller, “At Odds With Labour, Britain’s Jews Are Feeling Politically Homeless”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-11-13:",
          "text": "Online and over Shabbat dinners, arguments about the election have grown bitter. Those grudgingly planning to vote for Labour have been called traitors to the community and self-hating Jews. Anti-Corbyn die-hards, on the other hand, have been branded the handmaidens of a hard Brexit.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Alternative form of handmaid."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "handmaid",
          "handmaid#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
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    {
      "categories": [
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English gender-critical slang",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2020 July 22, Julie Bindel, “Trans activists risk falling for misogyny”, in The Spectator:",
          "text": "The fact that it is not possible to be seen as a supporter of trans people's human rights, as all feminists are or at least should be, unless we fully capitulate and take the metaphorical – and sometimes literal – boot in the face shows how extreme trans activists, enabled by their handmaiden allies, are nothing but a misogynistic men’s rights movement.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 November 10, Rebecca Chandler (@RachelWilde13), Twitter:",
          "text": "Solidarity with trans people but not women[,] I note[,] Angela. Especially the boring ones who fought for rights that you now enjoy. Enjoy being a handmaiden.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 February 4, Marie Le Conte, “Feminism has been reduced to the transgender debate”, in The New Statesman:",
          "text": "I have been called a handmaiden, a “pick me” girl, and been accused of vying for male attention.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A feminist woman who supports transgender rights."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "gender-critical",
          "gender-critical"
        ],
        [
          "slang",
          "slang"
        ],
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          "derogatory",
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        ],
        [
          "feminist",
          "feminist"
        ],
        [
          "woman",
          "woman"
        ],
        [
          "transgender",
          "transgender"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "gender-critical slang",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(gender-critical slang, derogatory) A feminist woman who supports transgender rights."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:feminist woman who supports transgender rights"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory"
      ]
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  "wikipedia": [
    "Margaret Atwood",
    "The Handmaid's Tale"
  ],
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}

Download raw JSONL data for handmaiden meaning in All languages combined (4.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-02 using wiktextract (32c88e6 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.