man

Reading level: easy

Estimated CEFR level: A1 — Beginner

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
  2. noun someone who serves in the armed forces; a member of a military force
  3. noun the generic use of the word to refer to any human being

Etymology

From Middle English man, from Old English mann m (“human being, person, man”), from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann- (“man”), from Proto-Indo-European *mon- (“human being, man”). Doublet of Manu. Cognates This word has many cognates, in every Germanic language (whether extant or extinct), with similarities in form and meaning. Virtually all the words below mean “man” and “husband”, with some specific cases noted. In Ingvaeonic (the languages closest to English): :* Low German Mann :* North Frisian maan, man, moon, muon :* Saterland Frisian Mon :* Scots man :* West Frisian man :* Yola man In the remainder of West Germanic: :* Alemannic German ma, Maa, Mann, mo, mà, Mànn :* Bavarian Mo, mon, moon, Må, mònn :* Cimbrian man, mann, månn :* Dutch, Limburgish, and Zealandic man :* German and Luxembourgish Mann :* Mòcheno mònn :* Vilamovian maon, mon, mōn :* Yiddish מאַן (man) In East Germanic: :* Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌰 (manna), which meant “man”, “human“ and “person”, but likely also “husband” In North Germanic: :* Danish mand :* Faroese and Icelandic maður, both additionally meaning “human” and “person”, as in Old Norse :* Gutnish and Swedish man :* Norn, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk mann :* Norwegian Nynorsk mainnj :* Old Norse maðr Outside Germanic: :Indo-Iranian: ::* Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬥𐬎𐬱 (manuš, “human”) ::* Sanskrit मनुस् (manus, “human”), मनु (manu, “human; humanity; thought”; “thinking; wise; intelligent”) ::* Also Sanskrit म॒नु॒ष्य॑ (manuṣyà, “human; man; huband”, whence English manusya) :Slavic (all of these mean “man” and “husband”, though in some cases the former is no longer part of the modern standard): ::* Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian муж (muž) ::* Bulgarian мъж (mǎž) ::* Czech and Slovak muž ::* Macedonian маж (maž) ::* Polish mąż (“husband”; the meaning “man” is obsolete, akin to English wife) ::* Serbo-Croatian му̑ж, mȗž ::* Slovene mož

In classic literature

Synonyms

adult male

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