Handy means useful and easy to reach for. A handy tool, that could come in handy, handy for the station.
Come in handy is the commonest phrase and means to prove useful later. Handy also describes a person good with their hands: he is handy with a saw. And in British English handy for means conveniently near: handy for the shops. Note handyman, somebody who does small repair jobs, and that handy is not related to handsome in meaning — handsome once meant easy to handle, which is where the two words part company.
1adjectivehandyUseful and easy to reach for.
“A small torch is handy and everybody forgets to pack one.”
2adjectivegoodGood with your hands.
“He is handy with anything mechanical.”
3adjectiveconvenientlyConveniently near.
“The flat is handy for the station and nothing else.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
handy is a quality of usefulness.
Old English hendig meant skilful, built from hand. The sense of an object being convenient came much later, by way of within reach of the hand, so the word crossed from the person to the thing.
Proto-Germanic
*handugaz — handy, skillful, nimble
Proto-West Germanic
*handīg
Old English
*hendiġ — skillful
Middle English
handy
English, today
handy
Built from
From Middle English handy, hondi (attested in personal names), alteration of earlier hendi (“handy, skillful”), from Old English hendiġ (“skillful”) (attested in listhendiġ (“skilled in art”)), from Proto-West Germanic handīg, handag, handug, from Proto-Germanic handugaz (“handy, skillful, nimble”), from handuz (“hand”), equivalent to hand + y. Cognate with stq jäntich (“handy”), Middle Low German handich (“skillful, apt”), Middle High German handec, hendec (“manual, hand-held”), Old Norse hǫndugr (“efficient”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌿𐌲𐍃 (“wise, clever”). Akin to Dutch handig (“handy”), Norwegian hendig (“handy”), Swedish händig (“handy”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA