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-man, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
-man in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
-man you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From the noun man.
Pronunciation
Suffix
-man (plural -men, feminine -woman)
- Someone (possibly implied male) who is an expert in an area or who takes part in an activity.
- horse + -man → horseman
- sports + -man → sportsman
- Someone (possibly implied male) who is employed or holds a position in an area.
- law + -man → lawman
- news + -man → newsman
- Someone (possibly implied male) who has special characteristics relating to a topic or area.
- free + -man → freeman
- ice + -man → iceman
- super + -man → superman
- Someone (possibly implied male) who has a particular nationality.
- Scots + -man → Scotsman
- Dutch + -man → Dutchman
- China + -man → Chinaman
- Yorkshire + -man → Yorkshireman
- A man whose name begins with the preceding letter.
- H + -man → H-man (“man whose name starts with H, e.g. Harry”)
- J + -man → J-man (“man whose name starts with an J”)
- A ship which has special characteristics relating to a trade or area.
- Guinea + -man → Guineaman (“ship of the West African slave trade”)
- East India + -man → East Indiaman
- merchant + -man → merchantman
- Greenland + -man → Greenlandman (“a whaling ship”)
- China + -man → Chinaman (“sailing ship engaged in the Old China Trade”)
Usage notes
- To more explicitly include people regardless of gender, the suffix -person or a synonym, for example police officer instead of policeman, can be used.
- Frequently employed in the names of male comic book characters, e.g. Aquaman, Batman, Spider-Man, Superman.
- The pronunciation can either have a full vowel or a schwa, but they are not in free variation; some words formed with this suffix can be used with only one of the possible pronunciations.
Hypernyms
Derived terms
Descendants
See also descendants of man.
References
Anagrams
Albanian
Etymology
Akin to Romanian -oman. Perhaps borrowed from Ottoman Turkish ـمان (-man),[1] alternatively from Slavic.[2][3]
Suffix
-man (originally Tosk)[2]
- forms derogatory adjectives and nouns.
- Synonyms: -laq, -luq, -lec, -rash, -vec
Usage notes
- The vast majority of derived terms also contain the infix -a-.
Derived terms
References
- ^ Kaleshi, Hasan (1971) “The importance of Turkish influence upon word formation in Albanian”, in Balcanica, volume 2, page 287f.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Xhuvani, A., Çabej, E. (1962) Prapashtesat e gjuhës shqipe (in Albanian)
- ^ Arapi, Ina (2012) Wolfgang Dahmen, editor, Südosteuropäische Romania (in German), Narr Verlag, →ISBN, page 146
Further reading
- Newmark, L., Hubbard, P., Prifti, P. (1982) Standard Albanian: a reference grammar for students, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, § 3.4.1 D, page 173
Dutch
Etymology
From the Dutch noun man (“man”).
Suffix
-man m (plural -mannen or -lieden or -lui or -mensen)
- someone (implied male) who is an expert in an area
- sportman ― sportsman
- zakenman ― businessman
- someone (implied male) who is employed or holds a position in an area
- brandweerman ― fireman
- politieman ― policeman
- someone (implied male) who has special characteristics relating to an area
- dolleman ― madman
- landsman ― countryman
- someone (implied male) who is derived from a particular nationality
- Engelsman ― Englishman
- Fransman ― Frenchman
Usage notes
The plural form of -man is -lieden (-lui in spoken language) or sometimes -mannen and -mensen, e.g.
- sportlieden / sportlui ― sportsmen
- brandweerlieden / brandweerlui / brandweermannen ― firemen
- politiemannen / politiemensen ― policemen
- Fransmannen / Fransen ― Frenchmen
Antonyms
Derived terms
French
Etymology
Borrowed from English -man.
Pronunciation
Suffix
-man
- used to form names of male professions or sportspersons
Usage notes
- In European and Canadian French, most words with this ending like businessman are borrowed directly from English, while some such as tennisman are not. The plural may be -mans or -men.
- In sub-Saharan Africa, the suffix is much more productive and, in more slangy language, appended to anything relating to a habitual activity: gbanman (“druggie”) (Ivory Coast) from Mande gban (“drug”), boukiman (“speculator”) (Senegal) from Wolof buki (“hyena”), djigboman (“magician”) (Ivory Coast) from Bété djigbo (“fetish”), as well as the more generally used taximan (“taxi driver”) (many countries) and gbakaman (“marshrutka-driver”) (Ivory Coast) from gbaka (“marshrutka”).
See also
Haitian Creole
Etymology
From French -ment (“-ly”).
Suffix
-man
- used to form adverbs out of adjectives; -ly
Derived terms
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From French -mane.
Suffix
-man m
- (generally) -maniac
Derived terms
References
- “-man” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
From French -mane.
Suffix
-man m
- (generally) -maniac
Derived terms
References
- “-man” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Quechua
Suffix
-man
- allative or dative case; indicates the direction of movement or the indirect object
- Llaqtaman risaq.
- I will go towards the town.
- Paykunaman mikhunata apachkani.
- I am taking food to them.
- potential mood; indicates possibility or potential
- Qam rikunkiman.
- You would see.
- Ñuqaqa manam haqayman purinimanchu.
- I would not walk over there.
Sranan Tongo
Pronunciation
Suffix
-man
- Person suffix, used to derive agent nouns from verbs as well as nouns for people characterised by a trait from nouns and adjectives.
Derived terms
Turkish
Suffix
-man
- Form of -men after the vowels A / I / O / U.