cack-handed

[ kak-han-did ]

adjectiveChiefly British Informal.
  1. clumsy; lacking skill with the hands.

Origin of cack-handed

1
First recorded in 1850–55; origin uncertain; perhaps from Old Norse keikr “bent backwards”; akin to Danish keite “left-handed”; perhaps from English dialect cack, keck “awkward” (of unknown origin). An obsolete noun sense “excrement” is found in Old English (in cac-hūs “latrine” ); the obsolete verb sense (mid-15th century ) appears in Middle English cakken “to void excrement,” from Latin cacāre; akin to Greek kakkân “to void excrement,” Middle Irish cacc “dung,” and perhaps to Greek kakós “bad”

Words Nearby cack-handed

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British Dictionary definitions for cack-handed

cack-handed

/ (ˌkækˈhændɪd) /


adjectiveinformal
  1. left-handed

  2. clumsy

Origin of cack-handed

1
from dialect cack excrement, from the fact that clumsy people usually make a mess; via Middle Low German or Middle Dutch from Latin cacāre to defecate

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