The term is derived from Hand-in-cap, an old English method for evaluating the relative worth of two items in a trade. Today Handicapped or handicap may refer to:
In sports and games
- Handicapping, various methods of levelling the outcome in a competitive sport or game:
- Handicap race (disambiguation)
- Handicap (chess)
- Handicap (golf)
- Handicap (go)
- Handicap (sailing)
- Handicap (shogi)
- Handicapping, various methods of outcome prediction or levelling outcome predictions:
- Asian handicap, bookmakers' technique to level odds
- Political handicapping, the news process of trying to predict election outcomes, especially rather than focusing on the political issues
Human condition
- Disability, an impairment that substantially affects a person's life activities, and may be present at birth or arise later in life
- Self-handicapping, a psychological method for preserving self-esteem
Biology
- Handicap principle, an evolutionary theory (also known as handicap theory)
Literature
- "The Handicapped", short story by Larry Niven originally published in 1967 as "Handicap"