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handicapped person

handicapped person

7 3.4
A person who has a physical, mental, or social difficulty that limits daily activities
  • noun
  • /ˈhændɪˌkæpt ˈpɜrsən/
  • Slur
translation icon : minusválido (antiguo, ofensivo)
  • Other enterprises could include financial services for the poor, educational institutions, training centers, renewable energy ventures, old-age homes, institutions for handicapped persons, recycling enterprises, and the marketing of products made by the poor.
  • visually handicapped person

Examples

  • In some voting districts, I was informed yesterday, poll workers come to the curb with an electronic machine so a handicapped person need not exit the vehicle.

    Blog text (32)
  • Special provisions for physically handicapped persons.

    Blog text (32)
  • I had never helped a handicapped person before.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Access for handicapped persons is a difficult problem in designing an observatory.

    Academic text (2003)
  • We were informed that visually handicapped people work into their 80s and 90s.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Mainstreaming enabled the handicapped person to be prepared for interaction with peers in nonspecialized settings.

    Academic text (1991)
  • The companions are a group of specially trained dogs that are assigned to help handicapped persons.

  • Alice asked how many handicapped persons we have in this office.

  • Mainstreaming enabled the handicapped person to be prepared for interaction with peers.

How Disabled

handicapped person
  • Slur
7 3.4
non-handicapped
  • Archaic
5.3
able-bodied
30 4.2

Surface Forms

Morphology

handicapped + person

The phrase is a straightforward combination of 'handicapped' (describing someone with a physical or mental disability) and 'person' (a human individual), so a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer it refers to a person with a disability. This is a simple compositional noun phrase following common cross-linguistic patterns, making its meaning transparent.

Etymology

Handicapped person comes from the old word handicap, which was a rule that added weight or a disadvantage in races to make things fair. Because handicap meant a 'disadvantage', people used handicapped person to describe someone with a physical or mental disadvantage. That's why it came to mean 'a person with a disability'.