A hand tool is any tool that is powered by hand rather than a motor. Categories of hand tools include wrenches, pliers, cutters, files, striking tools, struck or hammered tools, screwdrivers, vises, clamps, snips, hacksaws, drills, and knives.
Outdoor tools such as garden forks, pruning shears, and rakes are additional forms of hand tools. Portable power tools are not hand tools.
A scythe (/saɪð/, rhyming with writhe) is an agricultural hand-tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops. It was historically used to cut down or reap edible grains before they underwent the process of threshing. Horse-drawn and then tractor machinery largely replaced the scythe, but it is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia, especially in Yakutia, Siberia. Reapers are bladed machines that automate the cutting action of the scythe, and sometimes include subsequent steps in preparing the grain or the straw or hay.
The word "scythe" derives from Old English siðe. In Middle English and later, it was usually spelled sithe or sythe. However, in the 15th century some writers began to use the sc- spelling as they thought (wrongly) that the word was related to the Latin scindere (meaning "to cut"). Nevertheless, the sithe spelling lingered, and notably appears in Noah Webster's dictionaries.