What is the Latin word for handful?

The usual Latin words for “handful” are pugnus, pugillum, līnum; also parvus, paucitās. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

English → Latin

“handful” in Latin

pugnusa fist; a hand with all fingers curled up; a fistful, handful pugillumhandful, fistful līnumflax; linen cloth; garment made of linen; rope, line, string, thread, cord, cable parvussmall; little; puny; cheap; petty; trifling; ignorable; unimportant paucitāsscarcity, paucity

Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864

handful

pugnus: pugillus (as much as the hand can hold; e.g., a handful of salt, pugnus salis; of corn, pugillus farris; but manipulus = fasciculus manualis = a bundle which may be grasped round with the hand; e.g., foeni, of hay; lini, of flax): a handful of people, parvus or exiguus numerus; exigua manus (a small troop): a handful of persons or soldiers which anybody has with him to join the undertaking, paucitas (Vid: Nep., Dat., 7, 3; Pelop., 2, 3).

Quick answer

What is the Latin word for handful?: The usual Latin words for “handful” are pugnus, pugillum, līnum; also parvus, paucitās. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.

Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.