Handers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. People who pass, deliver or give objects to others, often by hand during a transaction or event
2. Those who physically transfer items from one person to another, such as attendants distributing papers or food
3. Individuals who serve as the go-between that passes something across to a recipient

Etymology: "Handers" is the plural of "hander," a word built from "hand" with the suffix "-er." One is that "hander" comes from the verb "hand" plus "-er," the familiar agent suffix that turns a verb into a person or thing doing the action. The other is that it comes from the noun "hand" plus "-er" as a measurement suffix, or as a relational suffix, which would mean something like a worker or thing tied to a hand. Both routes trace back to the same ancient root. "Hand" descends from Proto-Germanic "*handuz," which passed into Old English as "hand" and then Middle English "hond." The suffix has a longer path of its own: it runs from Proto-Indo-European through Latin "-arius," which English picked up via Old French "-ier" and Middle English "-er," and into the forms that now sit at the end of countless English words.