backhand

Etymology

It is formed from English back + hand, from the adverb and the noun.^[2][3][4][5] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1650–60.^[6] The OED explains the verb in its earliest sense, to take an extra glass of wine out of turn, as a back-formation from backhander, and in its other senses as a use of the noun.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The hand turned backwards in making a stroke, as in tennis when a ball on the left is taken by reaching the right hand across the body: 1657, in Disbrowe's words recorded in T. Burton's Diary.^[2][7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the same year for the noun's first sense,^[5] and the Shorter Oxford dates the noun to the mid 17th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word belonged to tennis and to striking in general: the Historical Thesaurus files its first sense both under strokes in racket games and under blows given with the back of the hand.^[7] By 1695 it was used attributively of the side of the court on which such strokes are played.^[2][4] Hendrickson counts it among the oldest technical sports terms and points to a figurative use in Vanbrugh's play The Mistake (1706), which he takes to be borrowed from the tennis court.^[8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the adjective to 1767,^[5] and Etymonline gives the figurative sense "indirect" from about 1800.^[3] The 19th century added handwriting that slopes to the left, recorded in Etymonline by 1894 and defined in the first edition of the OED in 1885.^[3][2] The verb first meant to take an extra glass of wine out of turn (1857), a sense the Shorter Oxford marks as rare;^[2][4] the sense "to hit with the back of the hand" is recorded before 1935, in T. E. Lawrence,^[2] and the sporting sense, to play a ball or puck with a backhand stroke, from 1938.^[2] In Australian surfing slang, backhand describes riding with one's back to the wave.^[9]

Timeline

• 1657 – noun, the hand turned backwards in making a stroke, as in tennis.^[2][5]
• 1695 – attributive, of the part of a tennis court where backhand strokes are played.^[2]
• 1767 – adjective, made with a backhand.^[5] Etymonline dates the adjective to the 1690s.^[3]
• 1857 – verb, to take an extra glass of wine out of turn.^[2][4]
• 1885 – handwriting with the letters sloped backwards.^[2][3]
• 1890 – noun, a backhand stroke in tennis.^[3]
• 1896 – verb, to hit or catch something with a backhand.^[5]
• before 1935 – verb, to hit with the back of one's hand.^[2]
• 1938 – verb, in sport, to hit a ball or puck with a backhand stroke.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. In tennis and other racket sports, a stroke played with the arm across the body and the back of the hand facing the direction of the stroke: Her backhand sent the ball down the line.^[10][11][5]
2. A blow struck with the back of the hand: a backhand across the face.^[5][10]
3. In hockey, a pass or shot made with the back of the stick's blade; in baseball, a catch made by reaching across the body with the palm facing the ball.^[12][11]
4. Handwriting in which the letters slope to the left.^[12][13][14]

Adjective

1. Made with the back of the hand facing the direction of the stroke: a backhand volley.^[11][5][13]
2. Backhanded.^[14]

Verb

1. To hit someone or something with the back of the hand: He backhanded the fly off the table.^[15][2][5]
2. To hit, play or catch a ball or puck with a backhand: The shortstop backhanded the grounder.^[5][13][2]

Word family

• backhanded
• backhander

Related words

• forehand
• back
• hand

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
9. ^ Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
13. ^ a b c The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
14. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
15. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press