Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word men. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word men, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say men in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word men you have here. The definition of the word men will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofmen, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking.[…]Indeed, all his features were in large mold, like the man himself, as though he had come from a day when skin garments made the proper garb of men.
1776, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
From Middle Dutchmen, an unstressed variety of man(“man”). Accordingly, originally pronounced with ; now predominantly with a full vowel , especially in those areas where the word is chiefly literary. Compare Germanman, Middle Englishmen(indefinite pronoun).
Men zegt dat... ― People say that.... It is said that...
Men weet nooit wat er gaat gebeuren. ― You never know what’s going to happen.
Usage notes
When not used as a subject, men must be replaced with je(“you”) or sometimes ze(“them”).
The word as such is very common in Limburg and some other areas, where it is part of the local dialects. Elsewhere it is not downright rare but perceived as formal and predominantly replaced with je and ze even as a subject (similarly to English one).
1723, Anton Maria Salvini, transl., Iliade [Iliad], Milan: Giovanni Gaetano Tartini, Santi Franchi, translation of Ἰλιάς (Iliás) by Homer, Book I, page 9:
Men vo alle navi, appo aver fatte in guerra ben gravi, e dure, e faticose imprese
I return to the ships, after grave, hard and laborious war endeavours
《汉语拼音方案》 (Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet) defines a standard pronunciation for each letter in Hanyu Pinyin with Zhuyin. ㄝ(/ɛ/) typically only occurs in syllables with an initial glide (e.g. ㄧㄝ(-ie/i̯ɛ/)), where it is romanized as e. When it occurs in syllables without an initial glide, however, it is romanized as ê in order to distinguish it from ㄜ(-e/ɤ/). Such instances are rare, and are only found in interjections or neologisms.
Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
^ Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003), “*bẹ-”, in Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill
This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Seems like a borrowing from a Western language at first glance but does not hold up at closer look on phonological ground. Earliest attestation I can find is in Như Tây nhựt trình (1889).”
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
Further reading
R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “men”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies