A bell designed to be rung by hand. To ring a handbell, a ringer grasps the bell by its slightly flexible handle (traditionally made of leather) and moves the arm to make the hinged clapper inside the bell strike. An individual handbell can be used simply as a signal to catch people's attention or summon them together, but handbells are also often heard in tuned sets.

The first tuned handbells were developed by ancient Vedic civilisations in the Indian subcontinent. They became popular in England around 1700 - initially to practise bellringing outside church towers. The handbell sets used by change ringers had the same number of bells as in the towers – generally 6 or 12 tuned to a diatonic scale.

Handbells were first taken to the USA around 1900 where they were used in handbell choirs.

The two major defining characteristics of English handbells are their clappers and ability to produce overtones. The clapper on an English handbell is on a hinge and moves back and forth in a single direction, unlike a school bell in which the clapper swings freely in any direction. It also has a spring that holds the clapper away from the casting after the strike to allow the bell to ring freely. Furthermore, the shaft of the clapper is rigid, such that the bell may be held with its mouth facing upward. The overtones on an English handbell are a 12th (an octave and a perfect fifth) above the fundamental.