thirdhand

American  

[thurd-hand] / ˈθɜrdˈhænd /

adjective

1. previously used or owned by two successive people.

2. (loosely) secondhand, especially in poor condition.

3. obtained through two intermediates successively; twice removed from the original source.

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adverb

1. after two other users or owners.

   He bought the guitar thirdhand.

2. by way of several intermediate sources; indirectly.

Etymology

Origin of thirdhand

First recorded in 1545–55; third + hand

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

thirdhand

One is the dense, dialect-heavy Gothic novel, 300-plus pages of exposition told second- or even thirdhand.

From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2026

Ford said he “certainly did not” approve of the relationship between his daughter and Hagans, which he heard about second- or thirdhand because the woman didn’t tell him about it.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 10, 2022

The endless meetings surrounding these trials typically involve months of vetting, confidentiality agreements and contracts; they are not to be crashed by wayward scientists with thirdhand invitations, and I immediately felt out of place.

From Scientific American ● Feb. 7, 2022

What co-workers won’t do is tell any Don Johnson tales out of school, even those they might have heard thirdhand or seen splashed across a tabloid.

From New York Times ● Nov. 25, 2021

The word came from John Slater, MIT’s physics chairman, who was passing on thirdhand information from a National Research Fellow in his laboratory, who heard it from a friend at Harvard working at Raytheon part-time.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik