Handstreich

German

Etymology

Hand +‎ Streich. Originally a synonym for Handschlag (“handshake”). In the early 19th century repurposed as a calque of French coup de main.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈhantʃtʁaɪ̯ç/
  • Rhymes: -aɪç
  • Hyphenation: Hand‧streich

Noun

Handstreich m (strong, genitive Handstreiches or Handstreichs, plural Handstreiche)

  1. a stroke with the hand:
    Synonym: Handstrich
    1. (obsolete) a handshake
      Synonym: Handschlag
    2. (obsolete, by extension) hand money
      Synonym: Handgeld
  2. (military, politics) coup de main; a surprise attack

Usage notes

In the literal sense of "stroke with the hand" interchangeably used with Handstrich, e.g. in the phrases keinen Handstrich/Handstreich tun ("to do nothing") or etwas mit einem Handstrich/Handstreich erledigen" ("to get something done with ease").

Declension

Declension of Handstreich [masculine, strong]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein der Handstreich die Handstreiche
genitive eines des Handstreiches, Handstreichs der Handstreiche
dative einem dem Handstreich, Handstreiche1 den Handstreichen
accusative einen den Handstreich die Handstreiche

1Now rare, see notes.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.