A handheld work apparatus has an internal combustion engine (9, 9′, 9″) and a starter device (8). The internal combustion engine has a piston (10, 10″) which has at least one piston ring (37, 38). In order to avoid a delay when starting the engine, at least one recess is provided in the cylinder bore (26) which bridges the at least one piston ring (37, 38) in at least one position of the piston (10, 10′) and which has a distance (n, o, p) to all function openings of the engine (9, 9′, 9″) configured in the cylinder bore (26). To reduce the compression in the combustion chamber (25), the piston (10′) has only one piston ring (37) or two piston rings (37, 38) are provided having respective piston ring gaps (39, 40) defining an angle (β) which is up to approximately 45°.