Abstract: In known electrosurgical handheld devices, a strengthening tube is firmly connected to a working element or a main body. Before the strengthening tube is connected to the main body, a contact body has to be pushed over the strengthening tube. For this purpose, the contact body has a corresponding bore. When the contact body is replaced for maintenance reasons or because of defects, the strengthening tube has to be removed with difficulty from the main body in order to be able to withdraw the contact body from same. The invention makes available an electrosurgical handheld device and a contact body which is able to be manipulated and maintained in a particularly simple and also time-efficient manner. This is achieved by the fact that a contact body for an electrosurgical handheld device has a slit parallel to a continuous bore and also parallel to a longitudinal axis of the handheld device.