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Probably a compound word. The first element is related to the base word of emse(“sow”) (originally meant “female”), which in turn is from Proto-Uralic*emä(“mother, woman”). The second element is either a variant of férj(“husband”) which originally meant “man” or is related to an unattested stem -ër, -ér, -ar, but in any case, the stem ultimately derives from Proto-Finno-Ugric*irkä(“man, son, boy”).
For its use with the article az(“the”), see az ember(“one, you”, used like an indefinite, generic pronoun).
The word ember is gender-neutral in the biological sense, or in the plural where it can refer to a mixed group of men and women or to people in general, and also in expressions like embereválogatja(“it depends on the person”), where it is again used in a general sense. In contrast with this, when it is used in the singular to refer to one person in particular, there is a strong implication that one is probably talking about a man and not a woman, in which case egynő(“a woman”) would sound more natural. As a generic pronoun, it has no such connotations, but even so, women sometimes colloquially use the expression azemberlánya(literally “the daughter of man”) instead, especially when talking about topics that only pertain to women in general.
^ ember in Tótfalusi, István. Magyar etimológiai nagyszótár (’Hungarian Comprehensive Dictionary of Etymology’). Budapest: Arcanum Adatbázis, 2001; Arcanum DVD Könyvtár →ISBN
ember in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
ember in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (‘A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2024)