What is the meaning of the word man

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This article is about the word «man». For adult males, see Man. For other uses, see Man (disambiguation).

The term man (from Proto-Germanic *mann- «person») and words derived from it can designate any or even all of the human race regardless of their sex or age. In traditional usage, man (without an article) itself refers to the species or to humanity (mankind) as a whole.

The Germanic word developed into Old English mann. In Old English, the word still primarily meant «person» or «human,» and was used for men, women, and children alike.^[1][2] The sense «adult male» was very rare, at least in the written language. That meaning is not recorded at all until about the year 1000, over a hundred years after the writings of Alfred the Great and perhaps nearly three centuries after Beowulf.^[3] Male and female gender qualifiers were used with mann in compound words.

Adopting the term for humans in general to refer to men is a common development of Romance and Germanic languages, but is not found in most other European languages (Slavic čelověkъ vs. mǫžь, Greek ἄνθρωπος vs. άνδρας, Finnish ihminen vs. mies etc.).

Etymology[edit]

According to one etymology, Proto-Germanic *man-n- is derived from a Proto-Indo-European root *man-, *mon- or *men- (see Sanskrit/Avestan manu-, Slavic mǫž «man, male»).^[4] The Slavic forms (Russian muzh «man, male» etc.) are derived from a suffixed stem *man-gyo-.^{[citation needed]}

In Hindu mythology, Manu is the name of the traditional progenitor of humankind who survives a deluge and gives mankind laws. The hypothetically reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form *Manus may also have played a role in Proto-Indo-European religion based on this, if there is any connection with the figure of Mannus — reported by the Roman historian Tacitus in ca. AD 70 to be the name of a traditional ancestor of the Germanic peoples and son of Tuisto; modern sources other than Tacitus have reinterpreted this as «first man».^[5]

In Old English the words wer and wīf were used to refer to «a male» and «a female» respectively, while mann had the primary meaning of «person» or «human» regardless of gender. Both wer and wyf may be used to qualify «man»; for example:

God gesceop ða æt fruman twegen men, wer and wif
(then at the beginning, God created two human beings, man and woman)^[6]

These terms are also used to qualify compounds; wifmann (variant wimman) developed into the modern word «woman». Wæpned also meant «male», and was used to qualify «man»: wæpnedmann (variant wepman, «male person»). There was also the term wæpenwifestre, meaning either an armed woman, or a woman with a penis.^[7] These terms were not restricted to adults; Old English also used wæpnedcild and wifcild, literally «male-child» and «female-child».^[8][9] The Old English wer may survive today in the compound «werewolf» (from Old English werwulf, literally «man-wolf»).^[10] See wer.

Some etymologies treat the root as an independent one, as does the American Heritage Dictionary. Of the etymologies that do make connections with other Indo-European roots, man «the thinker» is the most traditional — that is, the word is connected with the root *men- «to think» (cognate to mind). This etymology relies on humans describing themselves as «those who think» (see Human self-reflection). This etymology, however, is not generally accepted. A second potential etymology connects with Latin manus («hand»), which has the same form as Sanskrit manus.^[11]

Another etymology postulates the reduction of the ancestor of «human» to the ancestor of «man». Human is from *dhghem-, «earth», thus implying *(dh)ghom-on- would be an «earthdweller». The latter word, when reduced to just its final syllable, would be merely *m-on-^{[citation needed]}. This is the view of Eric Partridge, Origins, under man. Such a derivation might be credible if only the Germanic form was known, but the attested Indo-Iranian manu virtually excludes the possibility. Moreover, *(dh)ghom-on- is known to have survived in Old English not as mann but as guma, the ancestor of the second element of the Modern English word bridegroom.^[12] However, there may have been a single lexeme whose paradigm eventually split into two distinct lexemes in Proto-Germanic. Moreover, according to Brugmann’s law, Sanskrit mánu, with its short a, implies a PIE reconstruction *menu- rather than *monu-, which would lead to an expected but not attested cognate **minn- in Proto-Germanic.^[13]

In the late twentieth century, the generic meaning of «man» declined (but is also continued in compounds «mankind», «everyman», «no-man», etc.).^[14] The same thing has happened to the Latin word homo: in most of the Romance languages, homme, uomo, hombre, homem have come to refer mainly to males, with a residual generic meaning. The exception is Romanian, where om refers to a ‘human’, vs. bărbat (male).

The inflected forms of Old English mann are:^[15]

	sg.	pl.
nom.	mann	menn
acc.	mann	menn
gen.	mannes	manna
dat.	menn	mannum

The inflected forms of Old High German word for man (without i-mutation) are:^[16]

	sg.	pl.
nom.	man	man
acc.	manann, also man	man
gen.	mannes	mannô
dat.	manne, also man	mannum, mannun, mannom, mannen

The inflected forms of the Old Norse word for man, maðr, are:^[17]

	sg.	pl.
nom.	maðr	menn
acc.	mann	menn
gen.	manns	manna
dat.	manni	mǫnnum

Modern usage[edit]

The word «man» is still used in its generic meaning in literary English.

The verb to man (i.e. «to furnish [a fortress or a ship] with a company of men») dates to early Middle English.

The word has been applied generally as a suffix in modern combinations like «fireman», «policeman» and «mailman». With social changes in the later 20th century, new gender-neutral terms were coined, such as «firefighter», «police officer» and «mail carrier», to redress the gender-specific connotations of occupational names. Social theorists argued that the confusion of man as human and man as male were linguistic symptoms of male-centric definitions of humanity.^[18]

In US American slang, man! also came to be used as an interjection, not necessarily addressing the listener but simply added for emphasis, much like boy!, and similarly, dude!

Also, in American English, the expression «The Man», referring to «the oppressive powers that be», originated in the Southern United States in the 20th century, and became widespread in the urban underworld from the 1950s.

Use of man- as a prefix and in composition usually denotes the generic meaning of «human», as in mankind, man-eating, man-made, etc. In some instances, when modifying gender-neutral nouns, the prefix may also denote masculine gender, as in manservant (17th century). In the context of the culture war of the 2000s to 2010s, man was introduced as a derogatory prefix in feminist jargon in some instances,^[19] in neologisms such as mansplaining (2008) manspreading (2014), etc.

See also[edit]

• Were
• Names for the human species
• Last man
• Gender neutrality in English
• Manu and Yemo

References[edit]

Translingual[edit]

Symbol[edit]

man

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Mandingo.

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /mæn/
  • (/æ/ raising) IPA^(key): [mɛən], [meən], [mẽə̃n]
• (Jamaica) IPA^(key): [mɑn]
• (New Zealand, parts of South Africa) IPA^(key): [mɛn]
• Rhymes: -æn

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English man, from Old English mann m (“human being, person, man”), from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann- m (“human being, man”). Doublet of Manu.

Alternative forms[edit]

• (singular): mang (dialectal rendering, suggesting a Spanish accent), mans (slang), mon (slang, used in the vocative, in places such as Jamaica and Shropshire in England), mxn (rare, feminist)
• (plural): mans (Multicultural London English, Toronto, nonstandard, proscribed), mens, man, mandem (Multicultural London English),^[1] mens (nonstandard, African-American Vernacular), mxn (rare, feminist), myn (very rare, chiefly humorous)
• (interjection): maaan (elongated)

Noun[edit]

man (plural men)

1. An adult male human.

   The show is especially popular with middle-aged men.

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     The king is but a man, as I am; the violet smells to him as it doth to me.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     “ […] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:man.
2. (collective) All human males collectively: mankind.
   • 2011, Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity: Staying In, page 109:

     Unsurprisingly, if modern man is a sort of camera, modern woman is a picture.

3. A human, a person regardless of gender or sex, usually an adult. (See usage notes.)

   every man for himself

   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     […] a man cannot make him laugh.

   • 1624, John Donne, “17. Meditation”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: Printed by A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC; republished as Geoffrey Keynes, John Sparrow, editor, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions: […], Cambridge: At the University Press, 1923, →OCLC, lines 2–3, page 98:

     No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; […]

   • c. 1700, Joseph Addison, Monaco, Genoa, &c., page 9:

     A man would expect, in so very ancient a town of Italy, to find some considerable antiquities; but all they have to show of this nature is an old Rostrum of a Roman ship, that stands over the door of their arsenal.

   • 1991 edition (original: 1953), Darell Huff, How to Lie with Statistics, pages 19–20:

     Similarly, the next time you learn from your reading that the average man (you hear a good deal about him these days, most of it faintly improbable) brushes his teeth 1.02 times a day—a figure I have just made up, but it may be as good as anyone else’s – ask yourself a question. How can anyone have found out such a thing? Is a woman who has read in countless advertisements that non-brushers are social offenders going to confess to a stranger that she does not brush her teeth regularly?

   • 2021 January 20, Amanda Gorman, «The Hill We Climb»:

     We are striving to forge our union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man.

4. (collective) All humans collectively: mankind, humankind, humanity. (Sometimes capitalized as Man.)
   • 1647, Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 10:

     How did God create man?

     God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.

   • 1991, Barry J. Blake, Australian Aboriginal Languages: A General Introduction, page 75:

     Academics who study Aboriginal languages are […] contributing to Man’s search for knowledge, a search that interests most people even if they are not personally involved in it.

   • 2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist‎^[2], volume 408, number 8845:

     Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless.

6. (anthropology, archaeology, paleontology) A member of the genus Homo, especially of the species Homo sapiens.

   • 1990, The Almanac of Science and Technology, →ISBN, page 68:

     The evidence suggests that close relatives of early man, in lineages that later became extinct, also were able to use tools.

7. A male person, usually an adult; a (generally adult male) sentient being, whether human, supernatural, elf, alien, etc.
   • c. 1500, A Gest of Robyn Hode, in the Child Ballads:

     For God is holde a ryghtwys man.

   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:

     God’s a good man.

   • 1609 December (first performance)​, Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Epicoene, or The Silent Woman. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Ben Jonson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Expect: But was the devil a proper man, gossip?
     As fine a gentleman of his inches as ever I saw trusted to the stage, or any where else.

   • 2008, Christopher Paolini, Brisingr: Or The Seven Promises of Eragon Shadeslayer and Saphira Bjartskular — Inheritance Book Three, →ISBN, page 549:

     Clearing a space between the tables, the men tested their prowess against one another with feats of wrestling and archery and bouts with quarterstaves. Two of the elves, a man and a woman, demonstrated their skill with swordplay— […]

   • 2014, Oisin McGann, Kings of the Realm: Cruel Salvation, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

     There was a pair of burly dwarves – a woman and a man – bearing the markings of the formidable Thane Guards.

8. An adult male who has, to an eminent degree, qualities considered masculine, such as strength, integrity, and devotion to family; a mensch.
   • 2011, Timothy Shephard, Can We Help Us?: Growing Up Bi-Racial in America, →ISBN, page 181:

     I had the opportunity to marry one of them but wasn’t mature enough to be a man and marry her and be close to the […] children and raise them […].

9. (uncountable, obsolete, uncommon) Manliness; the quality or state of being manly.

   • 1598, Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Ben Jonson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Methought he bare himself in such a fashion, / So full of man, and sweetness in his carriage, / […]

10. A husband.
    • 1715, Joseph Addison, The Freeholder:

      In the next place, every wife ought to answer for her man.

11. A male lover; a boyfriend.
12. A male enthusiast or devotee; a male who is very fond of or devoted to a specified kind of thing. (Used as the last element of a compound.)

    Some people prefer apple pie, but me, I’m a cherry pie man.

13. A person, usually male, who has duties or skills associated with a specified thing. (Used as the last element of a compound.)

    I wanted to be a guitar man on a road tour, but instead I’m a flag man on a road crew.

14. A person, usually male, who can fulfill one’s requirements with regard to a specified matter.

    • 2007, Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night, →ISBN, page 553:

      «She’s the man for the job.»

    • 2008, Soccer Dad: A Father, a Son, and a Magic Season, →ISBN, page 148:

      Joanie volunteered, of course — if any dirty job is on offer requiring running, she’s your man —

    • 2012, The Island Caper: A Jake Lafferty Action Novel, →ISBN, page 34:

      He also owns the only backhoe tractor on Elbow Cay, so whenever anyone needs a cistern dug, he’s their man.

15. A male who belongs to a particular group: an employee, a student or alumnus, a representative, etc.
    • 1909, Harper’s Weekly, volume 53, page iii:

      When President Roosevelt goes walking in the country about Washington he is always accompanied by two Secret Service men.

    • 1913, Robert Herrick, One Woman’s Life, page 46:

      «And they’re very good people, I assure you — he’s a Harvard man.» It was the first time Milly had met on intimate terms a graduate of a large university.

16. An adult male servant.
17. (historical) A vassal; a subject.

    Like master, like man.

    (old proverb)

    all the king’s men

    • c. 1700s, William Blackstone:

      The vassal, or tenant, kneeling, ungirt, uncovered, and holding up his hands between those of his lord, professed that he did become his man from that day forth, of life, limb, and earthly honour.

    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:

      No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.

18. A piece or token used in board games such as chess.
    • 1883, Henry Richter, Chess Simplified!, page 4:

      The white men are always put on that side of the board which commences by row I, and the black men are placed opposite.

19. A term of familiar address often implying on the part of the speaker some degree of authority, impatience, or haste.

    Come on, man, we’ve got no time to lose!

20. A friendly term of address usually reserved for other adult males.

    Hey, man, how’s it goin’?

21. (sports) A player on whom another is playing, with the intent of limiting their attacking impact.
    • 2018 Dinny Navaratnam, Andrews will learn from experience: Fagan Brisbane Lions, 30 July 2018. Accessed 6 August 2018.

      «It was a brutal return to football for Brisbane Lions defender Harris Andrews as his man Tom Hawkins booted seven goals but Lions Coach Chris Fagan said the team’s defensive faults, rather than the backman’s, allowed the big Cat to dominate.»

    • 2023 March 26, Phil McNulty, “England 2-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport‎^[3]:

      The second arrived three minutes later and was all Saka’s own work, the Arsenal winger turning away from his man on the edge of the area and curling a superb effort beyond the reach of Anatoliy Trubin and into the top corner.

Usage notes[edit]

• The use of «man» (compare Old English: mann, wer, wīf) to mean both «human (of any gender)» and «adult male», which developed after Old English’s distinct term for the latter (wer) fell out of use, has been criticized since at least the second half of the twentieth century.^[2] Critics claim that the use of «man», both alone and in compounds, to denote a human or any gender «is now often regarded as sexist or at best old-fashioned»,^[2] «flatly discriminatory in that it slights or ignores the membership of women in the human race».^[3] The American Heritage Dictionary wrote that in 2004 75–79% of their usage panel still accepted sentences with generic man, and 86–87% accepted sentences with man-made.^[4] Some style guides recommend against generic «man»,^[5] and «although some editors and writers reject or disregard […] objections to man as a generic, many now choose instead to use» human, human being or person instead.^[3]
  • This generic usage is still preserved in certain dialects, pidgins, and creoles of English, as well as fixed expressions and certain religious documents and declarations such as the Nicene Creed (e.g. «…for us men and our salvation…»). Consideration of this has sometimes led to accusations of the critics of the generic man as enforcing linguistic prescriptivism.
• See also the man

Synonyms[edit]

• (adult male human): omi (Polari); see more at Thesaurus:man
• (person): human, person, see more at Thesaurus:person
• (board game piece): see Thesaurus:board game piece

Coordinate terms[edit]

• (gender): woman
• (age): boy; male

Derived terms[edit]

See also Category:English terms suffixed with -man

[edit]

• men

Descendants[edit]

See also descendants of -man.

• Tok Pisin: man
• → Chinese: man
• → Chinook Jargon: man
• → Korean: 맨 (maen)
• → Spanish: man
• → Thai: แมน (mɛɛn)
• → Volapük: man

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

• Old English: mann, wer, wīf.

Adjective[edit]

man (not comparable)

1. Only used in man enough

Interjection[edit]

man

1. Used to place emphasis upon something or someone; sometimes, but not always, when actually addressing a man.

   Man, that was a great catch!

   • 2019 August 15, Bob Stanley, “’Groovy, groovy, groovy’: listening to Woodstock 50 years on – all 38 discs”, in The Guardian‎^[4]:

     The 19 meandering minutes of Dark Star are attractive enough but, man, they go on, while poor Creedence Clearwater Revival – headliners, with Bad Moon Rising still in the charts – are watching the clock tick in the wings.

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:man.

Translations[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. (MLE, slang, personal pronoun) Used to refer to oneself or one’s group: I, we; construed in the third person.
   • 2011, Top Boy:

     Sully: If it weren’t for that snake […] Man wouldn’t even be in this mess right now.

   • 2013, Jenny Cheshire, “Grammaticalisation in social context: The emergence of a new English pronoun”, in Journal of Sociolinguistics‎^[5], volume 17, number 5, page 609:

     before I got arrested man paid for my own ticket to go Jamaica you know . but I’ve never paid to go on no holiday before this time I paid (Dexter, MLE)

   • 2017, Joseph Barnes Phillips, Big Foot …and Tiny Little Heartstrings

     Blood I swear she just gave man extra chicken? Two fat pieces of chicken.

2. (MLE, slang, personal pronoun) You; construed in the third person.

   • 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia; Raine Allen-Miller, director, Rye Lane, spoken by Nathan (Simon Manyonda):

     Oh, come on. Help a brother out. People see you coppin’, might inspire them. Look, I know you ain’t payin’ bills right now. Man must have bare peas saved up.

3. (MLE, slang, indefinite personal pronoun) Any person, one
   • c1450, Thomas Chestre, Libeaus Desconus

     He was of all colours Þat man may se of flours Be-twene Mydsomer and May.

   • 2013, Jenny Cheshire, “Grammaticalisation in social context: The emergence of a new English pronoun”, in Journal of Sociolinguistics‎^[6], volume 17, number 5, pages 609:

     I don’t really mind how . how my girl looks if she looks decent yeah and there’s one bit of her face that just looks mashed yeah . I don’t care it’s her personality man’s looking at (Alex, Multicultural London English corpus [MLE])

Usage notes[edit]

The usage of man as pronoun originally died out in the 15th century. It has independently reappeared in Multicultural London English. There it is most commonly used as a first person pronoun or as an indefinite personal pronoun, but uses in the second and third person are also attested.^[1]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English mannen, from Old English mannian, ġemannian (“to man, supply with men, populate, garrison”), from mann (“human being, man”). Cognate with Dutch bemannen (“to man”), German bemannen (“to man”), Danish bemande (“to man”), Swedish bemanna (“to man”), Icelandic manna (“to supply with men, man”).

Verb[edit]

man (third-person singular simple present mans, present participle manning, simple past and past participle manned)

1. (transitive) To supply (something) with staff or crew (of either sex).

   The ship was manned with a small crew.

   • 2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 39:

     In Britain, nearly 2,500 steam locomotives were built, 999 to new designs. Although the latter were modern, they were still labour-intensive to man and maintain, during a period of full employment when working for poor pay in the dirty railway environment was unattractive.

2. (transitive) To take up position in order to operate (something).

   Man the machine guns!

3. (reflexive, possibly dated) To brace (oneself), to fortify or steel (oneself) in a manly way. (Compare man up.)

   • 1876, Julian Hawthorne, Saxon Studies:

     he manned himself heroically

4. (transitive, obsolete) To wait on, attend to or escort.
6. (transitive, obsolete, chiefly falconry) To accustom (a raptor or other type of bird) to the presence of people.

Derived terms[edit]

• beman
• overman (verb)

Translations[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

Clipping of manual

Proper noun[edit]

man

1. (computing) A command used to display help pages in Unix and Unix-like operating systems.

Derived terms[edit]

• man page, manpage

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

• ‘Nam, ‘nam, AMN, MNA, N. Am., NAM, Nam, mna

Abinomn[edit]

Noun[edit]

man

1. moon

Afrikaans[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Dutch man, from Middle Dutch man, from Old Dutch man, from Proto-Germanic *mann.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /man/

Noun[edit]

man (plural mans or manne, diminutive mannetjie)

1. man
2. husband

Usage notes[edit]

• The normal plural in contemporary Afrikaans is mans. The form manne now usually refers to the members of a male group, such as a group of friends or a team or unit. Compare:

Vroue en mans moet gelyke regte hê. ― Women and men must have equal rights.

Die manne het goed gespeel vandag. ― The men played well today.

Albanian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• Tosk: mën
• Gheg: mand, mandë

Etymology[edit]

Syncopated form of Gheg mand, from Proto-Albanian *manta. Compare Ancient Greek βάτος (bátos, “bramble”), said by Beekes to be a Mediterranean wanderwort, and μαντία (mantía, “blackberry”) (Dacian loan).

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /man/

Noun[edit]

man m (indefinite plural mana, definite singular mani, definite plural manat)

1. mulberry, mulberry tree

Hyponyms[edit]

• man i bardhë (“white mulberry”) (Morus alba)
• man i kuq (“red mulberry”) (Morus rubra)
• man i zi (“black mulberry”) (Morus nigra)
• man toke (“wild strawberry”) (Fragaria vesca)

Aragonese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Akin to Spanish mano, from Latin manus.

Noun[edit]

man f

1. hand

Arigidi[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. I, first person singular pronoun, as subject

References[edit]

• B. Oshodi, The HTS (High Tone Syllable) in Arigidi: An Introduction, in the Nordic Journal of African Studies 20(4): 263–275 (2011)
• Boluwaji Oshodi (December 2011) A Reference Grammar of Arigidi, Montem Paperbacks, →ISBN

Bagirmi[edit]

Noun[edit]

man

1. water

References[edit]

• R. C. Stevenson, Bagirmi Grammar (1969)

Bariai[edit]

Noun[edit]

man

1. bird

References[edit]

• Steve Gallagher, Peirce Baehr, Bariai Grammar Sketch (2005)

Bikol Central[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Proto-Philippine *man.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /man/

Adverb[edit]

man

1. also

   Synonym: pati

Particle[edit]

man

1. used to abate or soften the impacts of negatives and commands

Bonggo[edit]

Noun[edit]

man

1. bird

References[edit]

• George W. Grace, Notes on the phonological history of the Austronesian languages of the Sarmi Coast, in Oceanic Linguistics (1971, 10:11-37)

Caló[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. Contraction of mangue (“I, me”).

References[edit]

• “man” in J. Tineo Rebolledo, A Chipicalli (La Llengua Gitana), Granada: Gómez de la Cruz, 1900, →OCLC, page 60.
• “man” in Francisco Quindalé, Diccionario gitano, Madrid: Oficina Tipográfica del Hospicio.
• “man” in Vocabulario : Caló — Español, Portal del Flamenco y Universidad.

Cebuano[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Proto-Philippine *man. Compare Tagalog man.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈman/, [ˈman̪]

Particle[edit]

man

1. gives information; could be omitted

   (Person 1): Hain man si Pedro?
   (Person 2): Tua man ‘to siya sa Carcar

   (Person 1): Where is Pedro?
   (Person 2): He is/was there in Carcar

2. contradicts a previous statement or presumption; usually with the particle ugod/gud

   (Person 1): Hain man si Pedro?
   (Person 2): Tua siya sa Carcar
   (Person 3 responding to person 2): Tua man gud siya sa Cebu

   (Person 1): Where is Pedro?
   (Person 2): He is in Carcar
   (Person 3): No, he’s in Cebu

3. makes a question not abrupt

   Hain man si Pedro?

   Where is Pedro?
   Could you tell me where Pedro is?

Chinese[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• MAN

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English man.

Pronunciation[edit]

(Mandarin) also pronounced as /mɛn⁵⁵/

Adjective[edit]

man

1. (informal) manly; masculine
   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:man.

See also[edit]

• gentleman (-)

Chinook Jargon[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English man.

Noun[edit]

man

1. man

Synonyms[edit]

• siwash

Antonyms[edit]

• klootchman

Adjective[edit]

man

1. male

Antonyms[edit]

• klootchman

Chuukese[edit]

Noun[edit]

man

1. Alternative spelling of maan

Cimbrian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• mann, månn

Etymology[edit]

From Middle High German man, from Old High German man, from Proto-Germanic *mann-.

Noun[edit]

man m (Tredici Comuni)

1. man
2. husband

References[edit]

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Czech[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Czech man, from Middle High German and Old High German man.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): [ˈman]
• Hyphenation: man

Noun[edit]

man m anim (feminine manka)

1. (historical) vassal, feoffee

   Synonyms: vazal, leník

Declension[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• man in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• man in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Norse mǫn, from Proto-Germanic *manō (“mane”).

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /maːˀn/, [mæˀn]

Noun[edit]

man c (singular definite manen, plural indefinite maner)

1. (rare, used primarily by horse specialists) mane (longer hair growth on the back of the neck of a horse)

   Synonym: manke

Declension[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

The same word as the noun mand (“man”). Calque of German man.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /man/, [man]

Pronoun[edit]

man (accusative en or én, possessive ens or éns)

1. you, one, they, people (a general, unspecified person)
2. I (used modestly instead of the first-person pronoun)
3. you (used derogatorily instead of the second-person pronoun)

Etymology 3[edit]

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /maːˀn/, [ˈmæˀn]

Verb[edit]

man

1. imperative of mane

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle Dutch man, from Old Dutch man, from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann-.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /mɑn/ ^help
• Hyphenation: man
• Rhymes: -ɑn

Noun[edit]

man m (plural mannen or man or mans, diminutive mannetje n or manneke n or manneken n)

1. man, human male, either adult or age-irrespective

2. husband, male spouse

Usage notes[edit]

• The normal plural is mannen. The unchanged form man is used after numerals only; it refers to the size of a group rather than a number of individuals. For example: In totaal verloren er 5000 man hun leven in die slag. (“5000 men altogether lost their lives in that battle.”) The plural mans is dated, now mostly occurring in nautical contexts or in dialect.
• Compound words with -man as their last component often take —lieden or —lui in the plural, rather than -mannen. For example: brandweerman (“firefighter”) → brandweerlieden (alongside brandweerlui and brandweermannen).
• Various alternative diminutives exist, including manneke (used especially in Flanders) and the dialectal mannechie.

Derived terms[edit]

[edit]

• men

Descendants[edit]

• Afrikaans: man
• Jersey Dutch: mān
• Negerhollands: man
  • → Virgin Islands Creole: mani (dated)
• → Caribbean Javanese: mang

Anagrams[edit]

• nam

Fala[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Galician-Portuguese mão, from Latin manus.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈman/

Noun[edit]

man f (plural mans or más)

1. hand

References[edit]

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021) Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu [Fala Dictionary]‎^[7], CIDLeS, →ISBN, page 194

Faroese[edit]

Verb[edit]

man

1. first/third-person singular present of munna

   I, he, she, it will / may

Derived terms[edit]

• tað man vera (so) — this may be (so)
• tað man óivað vera beinari — this will doubtless be more correct

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. (colloquial) one, they (indefinite third-person singular pronoun)

Synonyms[edit]

• (standard): mann

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Blend of mon +‎ ma.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /mɑ̃/

Determiner[edit]

man n (singular, plural mes)

1. (gender-neutral, neologism) my

   Man colocataire a fait son coming out non-binaire.

   My roommate came out as non-binary.

[edit]

	Possessee
Singular	Plural
Masculine	Feminine
Possessor	Singular	First person	mon1	ma	mes
Second person	ton1	ta	tes
Third person	son1	sa	ses
Plural	First person	notre	nos
Second person	votre2	vos2
Third person	leur	leurs

¹ Also used before feminine adjectives and nouns beginning with a vowel or mute h.

² Also used as the polite singular form.

See also[edit]

• iel
• tan
• san

Further reading[edit]

• “man”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Friulian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin manus.

Noun[edit]

man m (plural mans)

1. hand

Gaikundi[edit]

Noun[edit]

man

1. foot

Further reading[edit]

• Gaikundi-Ontena Organised Phonology Data (2011)

Galician[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• mão (reintegrationist spelling, lusista)
• mam (reintegrationist spelling)
• mao (central and eastern Galicia)

Etymology[edit]

From Old Galician-Portuguese mão, from Latin manus. Cognate with Portuguese mão and Spanish mano.

Noun[edit]

man f (plural mans)

1. hand
2. (figurative) ownership; protection; power; grasp

Usage notes[edit]

• Man is a false friend, and does not mean man. The Galician word for man is home.

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

• “mão” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI — ILGA 2006–2022.
• “mãao” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez — Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “man” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI — ILGA 2006–2013.
• “man” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “man” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

German[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /man/
• (Austria)
• Rhymes: -an
• Homophone: Mann

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle High German man, from Old High German man, from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann- (“person”).

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. one, you (indefinite pronoun; construed as a third-person singular)

   Man kann nicht immer kriegen, was man will.

   You can’t always get what you want.

   Manchmal muss man Kompromisse machen.

   Sometimes one must compromise.

   • 2008, Frank Behmeta, Wenn ich die Augen öffne, page 55:

     Kann man es fühlen, wenn man schwanger ist?

     Can one feel that one is pregnant?

2. they, people (people in general)

   Zumindest sagt man das so…

   At least that’s what they say…

3. someone, somebody (some unspecified person)
4. they (some unspecified group of people)

Usage notes[edit]

• Man is used in the nominative case only; for the oblique cases forms of the pronoun einer are used. For example: Man kann nicht immer tun, was einen glücklich macht. — One cannot always do what makes one happy.
• Since man derives from the same source as Mann (“man; male”), its use is considered problematic by some feminists. They have proposed alternating man and the feminine neologism frau, or using the generic neologism mensch. This usage has gained some currency in feminist and left-wing publications, but remains rare otherwise.
• In the sense of “someone,” man is often translated using the passive voice (“I was told that…” rather than “someone told me that…”).

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle Low German man. A contraction of Old Saxon newan (“none other than”). Compare a similar contraction in Dutch maar (“only”).

Adverb[edit]

man

1. (colloquial, regional, Northern Germany) just; only

   Komm man hier rüber!

   Just come over here!

   Das sind man dreißig Stück oder so.

   These are only thirty or so.

Further reading[edit]

• “man” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “man (jemand, irgendeiner, irgendeine)” in Duden online
• “man (adverb)” in Duden online

German Low German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle Low German man. A contraction of Old Saxon newan (“none other than”). Compare a similar contraction in Dutch maar (“only”).

Conjunction[edit]

man

1. (in many dialects, including Low Prussian) only; but

Synonyms[edit]

• (in various dialects) avers, awer (and many variations thereof; for which, see those entries)
• (in some dialects) bloots

Gothic[edit]

Romanization[edit]

man

1. Romanization of 𐌼𐌰𐌽

Icelandic[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /man/, [maːn]
• Rhymes: -aːn

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Norse man, perhaps from Proto-Germanic *gamaną (with unstressed prefix *ga-).

Noun[edit]

man n (genitive singular mans, nominative plural mön)

1. (obsolete, uncountable, collective) slaves
2. (archaic, countable) a female slave
3. (archaic or poetic, countable) maiden

Declension[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

• (female slave): ambátt

Derived terms[edit]

• mansal
• mansmaður

Etymology 2[edit]

From mana (“to dare [someone] [to do something]”).

Noun[edit]

man n (genitive singular mans, no plural)

1. the act of daring someone to do something; provocation, dare

Declension[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

Appears in Guðbrandur Þorláksson’s 1584 Bible translation. Borrowed from German Man (in Luther’s 1534 German Bible), from Hebrew מן (mān, “manna”).

Noun[edit]

man n (indeclinable)

1. (biblical, obsolete) manna

   • 1584, Guðbrandur Þorláksson (translator), “Exodus. Aunnur Bok Moſe”, in Biblia, Þad Er Øll Heiloͤg Ritning vtloͤgd a Norrænu‎^[8], Hólar: Jón Jónsson, chapter 16, verse 33, page 76:

     Og Moſes ſegde til Aaron / Tak þier eina Føtu / og legg eirn Gomor fullan af Man þar i / og lꜳt þad vardueitaſt fyrer DROTTNI til ydar ep[t]erkomande Kynkuijſla

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

Synonyms[edit]

• (manna): manna

Etymology 4[edit]

Verb[edit]

man

1. first-person singular present indicative of muna; I remember

   Ég man ekki.

   I don’t remember.

2. third-person singular present indicative of muna; he/she/it remembers

   Hann man hvað gerðist.

   He remembers what happened.

References[edit]

• “man” in: Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon — Íslensk orðsifjabók, (1989). Reykjavík, Orðabók Háskólans. (Available on Málið.is under the “Eldra mál” tab.)

Istriot[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin manus.

Noun[edit]

man m

1. hand

Japanese[edit]

Romanization[edit]

man

1. Rōmaji transcription of まん
2. Rōmaji transcription of マン

Ladin[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin manus.

Noun[edit]

man f (plural mans)

1. (Gherdëina, Badiot, Fascian) hand

   Auzé la man ciancia.

   To lift the left hand.

   L ie na lëtra scrita a man.

   It’s a letter written by hand.

   Dé na man

   To give a hand (to help)

Latvian[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. to me; dative singular form of es

Ligurian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin manus.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): [maŋ]

Noun[edit]

man f (plural moæn)

1. hand

Lithuanian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): [man]

Pronoun[edit]

mán

1. (first-person singular) dative form of aš.

Lombard[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• ma, mà (Eastern orthographies)

Etymology[edit]

From Latin manus.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /maːn/, [maːŋ] (Western)
• IPA^(key): /maː/, [ma(ː)] (Eastern)

Noun[edit]

man f (plural man)

1. hand

Luxembourgish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /maːn/

Verb[edit]

man (third-person singular present meet, past participle gemat or gemeet, auxiliary verb hunn)

1. (regional, southern dialects) Alternative form of maachen

Mandarin[edit]

Romanization[edit]

man

1. Nonstandard spelling of mān.
2. Nonstandard spelling of mán.
3. Nonstandard spelling of mǎn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of màn.

Usage notes[edit]

• Transcriptions of Mandarin speech into the Roman alphabet often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Dutch man, from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann-.

Noun[edit]

man m

1. human
2. person
3. man, male
4. husband
5. subordinate

Inflection[edit]

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms[edit]

— general:

— persons:

Descendants[edit]

• Dutch: man
• Limburgish: man
• Zealandic: man

Further reading[edit]

• “man”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “man (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old English man (“one, a person”).

Alternative forms[edit]

• mæn, mane, manne, mon, monne, ma, men

Pronoun[edit]

man

2. Typically singular, indefinite pronoun: one, you (indefinite).

Derived terms[edit]

• me
• noman
• animan

See also[edit]

• me
• ei

References[edit]

• “man, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 June 2018.
• “men, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 June 2018.

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

man

1. Alternative form of mon (“man”)

Etymology 3[edit]

Verb[edit]

man

1. (Late Middle English) Alternative form of mone (“shall”)

Miskito[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /man/

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. (in the singular) you

See also[edit]

Norman[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• main (Jersey)
• môin (Guernsey)

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old French main, mein, man, from Latin manus (“hand”).

Noun[edit]

man f (plural mans)

1. (France, anatomy) hand

Etymology 2[edit]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective[edit]

man (feminine ma)

1. my (belonging to me)

Coordinate terms[edit]

• tan (“your”)
• san (“hers, his, its”)

North Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Frisian mīn, from Proto-West Germanic *mīn.

Pronoun[edit]

man m (feminine min, neuter min, plural min)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) my

Northern Kurdish[edit]

Verb[edit]

man

1. to stay
2. to remain

Northern Sami[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. accusative/genitive singular of mii

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /mɑn/
• Homophone: mann
• Rhymes: -ɑn

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. you
2. one
3. they
4. people

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old Norse mǫn, from Proto-Germanic *manō.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /mɑːn/
• Rhymes: -ɑːn

Noun[edit]

man f or m (definite singular mana or manen, indefinite plural maner, definite plural manene)

1. a mane (of a horse)

References[edit]

• “man” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “man” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse mǫn, from Proto-Germanic *manō.

Noun[edit]

man f (definite singular mana, indefinite plural maner, definite plural manene)

1. mane (of a horse)

References[edit]

• “man” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Occitan[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Occitan man, from Latin manus.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): [ma]

Noun[edit]

man f (plural mans)

1. hand

Old Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann-.

Noun[edit]

man m

1. human, person
2. man, male

Inflection[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

• Middle Dutch: man
  • Dutch: man
  • Limburgish: man
  • Zealandic: man

Further reading[edit]

• “man (I)”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From mann.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /mɑn/

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. one, you (indefinite pronoun; construed as a third-person singular)
   • c. 992, Ælfric, «The First Sunday in September, When Job Is Read»

     Man sċeal lǣwedum mannum seċġan be heora andġietes mǣðe, swā þæt hīe ne bēon þurh þā dēopnesse ǣmōde ne þurh þā langsumnesse ǣþrȳtte.

     You have to talk to laymen based on how much they understand, so they’re not intimidated by the depth of what you’re saying or bored by how long it is.

   • c. 992, Ælfric, «Dedication of the Church of St. Michael»

     Sē hrōf ēac swelċe hæfde mislīċe hēanesse: on sumre stōwe hine man meahte mid hēafde ġerǣċan, on sumre mid handa earfoþlīċe.

     The height of the roof was also uneven: you could touch one part of it with the top of your head, and barely reach another part with your hand.

2. they, people (people in general)
3. someone, somebody (some unspecified person)
4. they (some unspecified group of people)
5. often used where modern English would use the passive voice
   • late 9th century, King Alfred’s translation of Boethius’ The Consolation of Philosophy

     Hine man sċeal lǣdan tō þām lǣċe.

     He should be taken to the doctor.

   • Early 11th century, Wulfstan, «On the Beginning of Creation»

     Þā sē Hǣlend ċild wæs, eall hine man fēdde swā man ōðru ċildru fētt. Hē læġ on cradole bewunden, ealswā ōðru ċildru dōþ. Hine man bær oþ hē self gān meahte.

     When Jesus was a baby, he was fed just like other babies are fed. He lay wrapped up in a cradle, just like other babies do. He was carried until he could walk by himself.

Descendants[edit]

• Middle English: man, me

Etymology 2[edit]

See mann.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /mɑnn/, [mɑn]

Noun[edit]

man m

1. Alternative form of mann

Etymology 3[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *mainą.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /mɑːn/

Noun[edit]

mān n

1. crime, sin, wickedness

Derived terms[edit]

• mānswerian

Old High German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann-.

Noun[edit]

man m

1. man

Descendants[edit]

• Middle High German: man
  • Alemannic German: ma, mà, Maa, Mann, Mànn, mo, ma’

    Swabian: Ma, Mâ, Mô, Mâo, Mâu

  • Bavarian: mon, mònn, moon, ma’

    Cimbrian: man, mann, månn

    Mòcheno: mònn

  • Central Franconian:

    Hunsrik: Mann

  • East Central German:

    Silesian German: Moan

  • German: Mann, man
  • Luxembourgish: Mann
  • Transylvanian Saxon: Mouen, Mäun
  • Rhine Franconian:

    Pennsylvania German: Mann

  • Yiddish: מאַן‎ (man)

Old Norse[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Probably from Proto-Germanic *gamaną (“fellow human”)

Noun[edit]

man n (genitive mans, plural mǫn)

1. household, house-folk, bondslaves
2. bondwoman, female slave
3. woman, maid
   • 900-1100, The Alvíssmál, verse 7:

     Sáttir þínar er ek vil snemma hafa
     ok þat gjaforð geta;
     eiga vilja heldr en án vera
     þat it mjallhvíta man.

     Quickly will I have your agreement
     and win the word of marriage;
     I would rather own than be without
     that pale maid.

Declension[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

• mankynni n pl
• mansal n
• mansmaðr m

Descendants[edit]

• Icelandic: man

References[edit]

• Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic‎^[9], Oxford: Clarendon Press

Old Occitan[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin manus.

Noun[edit]

man f (oblique plural mans, nominative singular man, nominative plural mans)

1. hand (anatomy)

Descendants[edit]

• Occitan: man

References[edit]

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002), “manus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 6/1: Mabile–Mephitis, page 285

Old Saxon[edit]

Noun[edit]

man m

1. Alternative form of mann

Old Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin māne (“morning”).

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈman/

Noun[edit]

man f (plural manes)

1. morning
   • c. 1200: Almerich, Fazienda de Ultramar, f. 18r.

     Fue el dia ṫcero al alba dela man. ¬ vinẏerȯ truenos ¬ relȧpagos ¬ nuf grȧt ſobrel mȯt.

     It was the early morning of the third day, and there came thunder and flashes of lightning and a great cloud upon the mountain.

Synonyms[edit]

• mannana f

Papiamentu[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Spanish mano.

Noun[edit]

man

1. hand

Romani[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. accusative of me

Sambali[edit]

Adverb[edit]

man

1. also

Saterland Frisian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /man/
• Hyphenation: man
• Rhymes: -an

Etymology 1[edit]

Borrowed from Middle Low German man. Related to German Low German man and Swedish men.

Conjunction[edit]

man

1. but

Adverb[edit]

man

1. but, just

Etymology 2[edit]

From an unstressed variant of Old Frisian mon (“man”). Compare Dutch men and German man.

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. one, they

   • 2000, Marron C. Fort, transl., Dät Näie Tästamänt un do Psoolme in ju aasterlauwerfräiske Uurtoal fon dät Seelterlound, Fräislound, Butjoarlound, Aastfräislound un do Groninger Umelounde [The New Testament and the Psalms in the East Frisian language, native to Saterland, Friesland, Butjadingen, East Frisia and the Ommelanden of Groningen], →ISBN, Dät Evangelium ätter Matthäus 1:23:

     Sjooët, n Maiden skäl n Bäiden undfange, n Súun skäl ju uurwinne, un man skäl him dän Nome Immanuel reke, dät hat uursät: God is mäd uus.

     Behold, a virgin shall become pregnant with a child, she will give birth to a son, and they shall give him the name Immanuel, which is translated: God is with us.

[edit]

• Mon (“man, husband”)

References[edit]

• Marron C. Fort (2015), “man”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN

Scottish Gaelic[edit]

Preposition[edit]

man

1. (Lewis) Alternative form of mar

Usage notes[edit]

• Unlike mar, man does not lenite the following word.

Spanish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English man.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈman/ [ˈmãn]
• Rhymes: -an
• Syllabification: man

Noun[edit]

man m (plural men)

1. (Latin America, colloquial) man, guy, dude

   Synonyms: tipo, tío, see also Thesaurus:tío

   • 2017, “Bella”, performed by Wolfine:

     Me dijeron que andabas un poco triste / Que te pusiste a beber y con un man por ahí te fuiste

     I heard you were feeling down / That you’d been drinking and took off with some guy

Further reading[edit]

• “man”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Sranan Tongo[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English man.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /man/, /maŋ/

Noun[edit]

man

1. man, male human

   A man no ben man taki. ― The man could not speak.

Derived terms[edit]

• -man
• manpikin

Verb[edit]

man

1. to be able to

   A man no ben man taki. ― The man could not speak.

   • 1984, “Nioni”, in Telefôn’ mi koe mi koenoe, performed by The Exmo Stars & Boogie:

     Te yu no man fu tyari akata / yu no mu trobi matuku

     If you aren’t able to carry a head pad / you shouldn’t bother with a basket

Synonyms[edit]

• kan

Sumerian[edit]

Romanization[edit]

man

1. Romanization of 𒎙 (man)

Swedish[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Swedish maþer, mander, from Old Norse maðr, from Proto-Germanic *mann-.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /man/

Noun[edit]

man m

1. man (adult male human)

   En man går på gatan.

   A man walks on the street.

   Ungefär hundra män deltog i loppet.

   Around one hundred men took part in the race.

   I äldre tider sa man att björnen ägde sju mans styrka men en mans vett.

   In older times, they said the bear has the strength of seven men but the sense of one man.

2. husband

   Vi går till caféet med våra män.

   We go to the café with our husbands.

3. a member of a crew, workforce or (military) troop

   Vi var sjuttio man som slet i gruvan.

   We were seventy men who toiled in the mine.

4. (slang, in the definite «mannen») man (usually friendly term of address)

   Jalla, mannen! ― Hurry up, man!

Usage notes[edit]

(adult male human): The unchanged plural man is sometimes used after numerals. It means «men» as a measure for size or strength of a group rather than individuals:

Med tre man kan vi lyfta byrån ― With three people we can lift the cupboard

Military or police personnel, team members, demonstrators and the like are often counted using this unchanged plural. The same goes with German and Dutch where Mann and man can have an unchanged plural form in this particular case.

(husband): Not used in other contexts, where it could be confused with a man in general.

Declension[edit]

Declension of man 1, 2, 3
	Singular	Plural
Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	man	mannen	män	männen
Genitive	mans	mannens	mäns	männens

Declension of man 3
	Singular	Plural
Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	man	mannen	mannar, man	mannarna
Genitive	mans	mannens	mannars, mans	mannarnas

Derived terms[edit]

See also[edit]

(husband): make, gemål

Pronoun[edit]

man c

1. (indefinite) one, they; people in general

   Vad man kan se

   What one can see

Usage notes[edit]

Does not sound formal the way English one might when substituted for you. Usually the only option in cases where both you and one might be used in English, as Swedish du (“you”) and ni (“you (plural)”) read more like «you, specifically.»

Declension[edit]

See Template:sv-decl-ppron for more pronouns.

Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old Swedish man, from Old Norse mǫn, from Proto-Germanic *manō.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑːn/

Noun[edit]

man c

1. mane (of a horse or lion)

Declension[edit]

Declension of man
	Singular	Plural
Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	man	manen	manar	manarna
Genitive	mans	manens	manars	manarnas

Anagrams[edit]

• nam

Tagalog[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Proto-Philippine *man.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈman/, [ˈman]

Adverb[edit]

man

1. although; even if; even though

   Synonyms: kahit, maski, bagaman

2. also

   Synonyms: din, pati

Derived terms[edit]

Tarpia[edit]

Noun[edit]

man

1. bird

References[edit]

• George W. Grace, Notes on the phonological history of the Austronesian languages of the Sarmi Coast, in Oceanic Linguistics (1971, 10:11-37)

Tok Pisin[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English man.

Noun[edit]

man

1. man (adult male human)

   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Jenesis 2:5:

Adjective[edit]

man

1. male

Antonyms[edit]

• meri

Derived terms[edit]

Torres Strait Creole[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English man.

Noun[edit]

man

1. husband
2. a married man
3. any man

Venetian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin manus.

Noun[edit]

man f (invariable)

1. hand

Vietnamese[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [maːn˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [maːŋ˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [maːŋ˧˧]
• Homophone: mang

Etymology 1[edit]

Sino-Vietnamese word from 瞞 (“to lie”). Also compare 謾 (“to deceive”).

Adjective[edit]

man

1. (only in compounds) dishonest; false; untruthful

Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Sino-Vietnamese word from 蠻 (“barbarian; unreasonable”).

Noun[edit]

man

1. (derogatory, chiefly in compounds) a savage; barbarian

Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 萬 (“ten thousand”, SV: vạn). Doublet of muôn and vạn.

Numeral[edit]

man

1. (archaic) ten thousand; myriad

   một man ― ten thousand

Derived terms[edit]

• cơ man (“multitude; myriad”)

Anagrams[edit]

• nam

Volapük[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from the descendants of Proto-West Germanic *mann.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): [man]

Noun[edit]

man (nominative plural mans)

1. man (adult male human)

Declension[edit]

Coordinate terms[edit]

• vom

Derived terms[edit]

Welsh[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /man/
• Rhymes: -an

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle Welsh mann, from Proto-Celtic *mendus (“mark, location”), from Proto-Indo-European *mend- (“physical defect, fault”), same source as Old Irish mennar (“blemish, stain”).

Noun[edit]

man m or f (plural mannau or mannoedd)

1. place; location

Etymology 2[edit]

Possibly from Latin menda (“defect, blemish, mistake”), from Proto-Indo-European *mend- (“physical defect, fault”). See Old Irish mennar (“blemish, stain”).

Noun[edit]

man m (plural mannau or mannoedd, diminutive mannyn or mennyn)

1. speck; blemish
2. stain
3. distinguishing mark
4. birthmark; mole
5. pimple; spot
6. (heraldry) mascle

Etymology 3[edit]

Learned borrowing from Hebrew מן‎ (mān, “manna”).

Noun[edit]

man m

1. (uncommon) manna

   Synonym: manna

Mutation[edit]

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
man	fan	unchanged	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References[edit]

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “man”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
• Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 264

West Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Frisian man, from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann-.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /mɔn/

Noun[edit]

man c (plural manlju or mannen, diminutive mantsje)

1. man

   Coordinate term: frou

2. husband

   Coordinate term: frou

Further reading[edit]

• “man (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

Wik-Mungkan[edit]

Noun[edit]

man

1. neck

Derived terms[edit]

Wolof[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

man

1. I (first-person singular subject pronoun)

See also[edit]

Yola[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English man, from Old English mann, from Proto-West Germanic *mann.

Noun[edit]

man (plural mannes)

1. man
2. husband

   Coordinate term: mawen

References[edit]

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 55

Zealandic[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle Dutch man, from Old Dutch man, from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann-.

Noun[edit]

man m (plural mannen)

1. man
2. husband