-man

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English

Etymology

From the noun man.

Pronunciation

Suffix

-man (plural -men, feminine -woman)

  1. Someone (possibly implied male) who is an expert in an area or who takes part in an activity.
    horse + ‎-man → ‎horseman
    sports + ‎-man → ‎sportsman
  2. Someone (possibly implied male) who is employed or holds a position in an area.
    law + ‎-man → ‎lawman
    news + ‎-man → ‎newsman
  3. Someone (possibly implied male) who has special characteristics relating to a topic or area.
    free + ‎-man → ‎freeman
    ice + ‎-man → ‎iceman
    super + ‎-man → ‎superman
  4. Someone (possibly implied male) who has a particular nationality.
    Scots + ‎-man → ‎Scotsman
    Dutch + ‎-man → ‎Dutchman
    China + ‎-man → ‎Chinaman
    Yorkshire + ‎-man → ‎Yorkshireman
  5. 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.

  • Sranan Tongo: -man
  • French: -man
  • Japanese: マン (-man)
  • Welsh: -mon

References

Anagrams

Albanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Akin to Romanian -oman. Perhaps borrowed from Ottoman Turkish ـمان (-man), alternatively from Slavic.

Suffix

-man (originally Tosk)

  1. 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

  1. ^ Kaleshi, Hasan (1971), “The importance of Turkish influence upon word formation in Albanian”, in Balcanica, volume 2, page 287f.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Xhuvani, A.; Çabej, E. (1962) Prapashtesat e gjuhës shqipe (in Albanian)
  3. ^ 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)

  1. someone (implied male) who is an expert in an area
    sportmansportsman
    zakenmanbusinessman
  2. someone (implied male) who is employed or holds a position in an area
    brandweermanfireman
    politiemanpoliceman
  3. someone (implied male) who has special characteristics relating to an area
    dollemanmadman
    landsmancountryman
  4. someone (implied male) who is derived from a particular nationality
    EngelsmanEnglishman
    FransmanFrenchman

Usage notes

The plural form of -man is -lieden (-lui in spoken language) or sometimes -mannen and -mensen, e.g.

sportlieden / sportluisportsmen
brandweerlieden / brandweerlui / brandweermannenfiremen
politiemannen / politiemensenpolicemen
Fransmannen / FransenFrenchmen

Antonyms

Derived terms

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English -man.

Pronunciation

Suffix

-man

  1. 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

  1. used to form adverbs out of adjectives; -ly

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From French -mane.

Suffix

-man m

  1. (generally) -maniac

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From French -mane.

Suffix

-man m

  1. (generally) -maniac

Derived terms

References

Quechua

Suffix

-man

  1. 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.
  2. potential mood; indicates possibility or potential
    Qam rikunkiman.
    You would see.
    Ñuqaqa manam haqayman purinimanchu.
    I would not walk over there.

Sranan Tongo

Suffix

-man

  1. 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

  1. Form of -men after the vowels A / I / O / U.