Handsome means good-looking, and it is the word English reaches for about a man. A handsome face in an old family photograph, a handsome stranger at the door, an actor everyone agrees is handsome without anyone saying why.
It stretches further than faces. Said of a woman it means strong-featured and striking rather than pretty, and it lands well on older women. Said of a house, a desk or a horse it means solidly and impressively made. Then there is money: a handsome profit, a handsome sum, a handsome reward — large and generous, with nothing to do with looks. The adverb carries the same weight: you can be paid handsomely. Handsome is not a soft word, so it never means cute or sweet.
1adjectivehandsomeGood-looking, said above all of a man.
“Her grandfather was a handsome man in every picture from the fifties.”
synonyms: good-looking, attractive
2adjectivewomanOf a woman: striking and strong-featured rather than delicate.
“She was a handsome woman of seventy, straight-backed and grey.”
3adjectivesolidlySolidly and impressively made, of a building or an object.
“They bought a handsome old house with a green front door.”
4adjectivegenerousLarge and generous, of an amount of money.
“The flat sold for a handsome profit.”
synonyms: generous, substantial
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Handsome started life meaning "easy to handle": it is simply hand plus -some, the way Dutch built handzaam. From easy to handle it slid to "suitable", then in the mid-sixteenth century to "apt, clever", and only in the late sixteenth century did it arrive at the admiring sense we use now. A handsome man was once a convenient one.
Middle English
handsum
English, today
handsome
From Middle English handsum, hondsom, equivalent to hand + some. Compare Dutch handzaam, German Low German handsaam. The original sense was “easy to handle or use”, hence “suitable” and “apt, clever” (mid-16th century), giving rise to the current appreciatory senses (late 16th century).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA