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Why are the hands of a clock called hands? To me, this makes little sense; they do not resemble hands in any way, and if anything body-part related, they should be arms. So why are they called hands?

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Why not also report what you get from Google on the question? – GEdgar Oct 19 '11 at 0:05
@GEdgar I get some unrelated pages, and a Yahoo! Answers that I don't trust. – Mahnax Oct 19 '11 at 0:21

1 Answer

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They do resemble pointing hands; especially the classic style of hour hand. Yes, they're thinner than human hands, but they point:

Etymonline says this usage of hand is over 400 years old:

Clock and watch sense is from 1570s.

Other than that, I don't think anyone can explain just why clockmakers chose hand instead of arm, or even finger. The point is that they point, like a hand.

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Fair enough, I suppose. – Mahnax Oct 19 '11 at 0:29
You might just as well ask why a clock's dial is called its 'face'. Or, indeed, why the human face is called 'a clock'. – Barrie England Oct 19 '11 at 6:40
Clocks originally had only an hour hand, and maybe the original hour hand did look more like a hand, like the one in the picture. So that's probably where hand came from; when minute and second hands were added, they took on the same name, though thinner shapes. – Daniel δ Oct 19 '11 at 18:17

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