Other forms: handfuls
A handful is as much as one hand can hold, or a very small number. A handful of coins, a handful of people, only a handful left.
The second sense is the commoner in writing: a handful of complaints means a few. The plural is handfuls. Of a child or an animal, a handful means demanding and difficult to manage — he is a bit of a handful — which is affectionate and honest at once. Note the -ful ending, which takes an s on the end and not in the middle: spoonfuls, not spoonsful.
1nounhandfulAs much as one hand can hold.
“She threw a handful of seed on the ground and stood back.”
2nounsmallA very small number of people or things.
“Only a handful of people turned up in the end.”
handful is a small quantity.
The word is hand plus full, and Old English already had handfull as a single noun. English built a whole family this way — mouthful, spoonful, armful, cupful — and all of them are measures taken from the body or the kitchen.
Proto-Germanic
*handufullō
Old English
handfull — handful
Middle English
handful
English, today
handful
Built from
From Middle English handful, hondful, from Old English handfull (“handful”), from Proto-Germanic handufullō, handufulliz (“handful”), from Proto-Germanic handuz (“hand”) + fullaz (“full”); equivalent to hand + full or hand + -ful. Cognate with stq Hondful (“handful”), West Frisian hânfol (“handful”), Dutch handvol (“handful”), German Handvoll (“handful”), Danish håndfuld (“handful”), Swedish handfull (“handful”), Icelandic handfylli (“handful”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA