What does -man mean?

The combining form -man is used like a suffix meaning “man,” most often to indicate a man who performs a particular job or function. It is often used in a variety of technical and everyday terms.

The form -man comes from Old English mann, which could refer to both an adult male and a human being in general.

What are variants of -man?

The plural form of -man is -men, as in firemen. The female equivalent of -man is -woman, as in saleswoman. However, use of this kind of gendered language for professions has decreased in recent years, with gender-neutral terms often being preferred. Namely, the ending -person is often used, as in salesperson. Some terms are changed altogether, such as mail carrier being used instead of mailman. Still, some people may prefer to use the gender-specific version of a term that applies to them—a mailman may prefer to call himself a mailman and congresswoman may prefer to call herself a congresswoman, for example.

For more guidance, check out the Thesaurus.com guide to gender-neutral language.

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Also see under men."}],"id":"4effa20080539d2858352de2","ordinal":1}],"slug":"man","source":"american-heritage","type":"idiom"}],"type":"idiom"},{"entries":[{"createDate":"2010-07-28T16:36:40Z","derivedFormSets":[{"derivedForms":[{"form":"manless"}],"partOfSpeech":"adjective"}],"headword":{"normalizedForm":"man","standardForm":"man"},"id":"4c505c98000000028e00c1c8","lang":"en","modifyDate":"2010-07-28T16:36:40Z","ngrams":{"allLetters":true,"forward":"man","groups":["a","m","n"],"numLetters":3,"reverse":"nam","subwordTokens":["man","an","n"]},"normalizedLetter":"m","notes":[{"text":"The use of man to mean human beings in general is often considered sexist. Gender-neutral alternatives include human beings , people and humankind . The verb to man can also often be replaced by to staff , to operate and related words","type":"usage"}],"ordinal":1,"origin":{"source":"collins","text":"Old English mann; related to Old Frisian man, Old High German man, Dutch man, Icelandic mathr","type":"etymology"},"partOfSpeechBlocks":[{"definitions":[{"id":"4c87b299a5c9b252992c16bb","ordinal":1,"tags":[{"tag":"General:General_Language:General_Language_Term","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"an adult male human being, as distinguished from a woman"},{"examples":[{"sentence":"a man child"}],"id":"4c392fc4273924f4b63f4ad1","ordinal":2,"tags":[{"tag":"General:General_Language:General_Language_Term","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"(modifier) male; masculine"},{"id":"4c9d5d8c068a993b028e59ba","label":"archaic","ordinal":3,"tags":[{"tag":"General:General_Language:General_Language_Term","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"a human being regardless of sex or age, considered as a representative of mankind; a 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man"},{"id":"4cf444da8bd084b53ebd3daf","ordinal":6,"tags":[{"tag":"Social_Science_and_History:Social_Science:Anthropology_and_Ethnology","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"a member of any of the extinct species of the genus Homo, such as Java man, Heidelberg man, and Solo man"},{"examples":[{"sentence":"be a man"}],"id":"4cd19abc7300da2e22fd24a3","ordinal":7,"tags":[{"tag":"General:General_Language:General_Language_Term","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"an adult male human being with qualities associated with the male, such as courage or virility"},{"examples":[{"sentence":"the man in him was outraged"}],"id":"4ceee20b2d2b9b51a53ec29e","ordinal":8,"tags":[{"tag":"General:General_Language:General_Language_Term","type":"subject-field"}],"text":"manly qualities or virtues"},{"id":"4c5acda9977c68f3a4ce3374","ordinal":9,"tags":[{"tag":"General:General_Language:General_Language_Term","type":"subject-field"}]},{"id":"4cdfd1a15b5bc8f2d6277776","ordinal":9,"subOrdinal":1,"text":"a subordinate, 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Irish Sea between Cumbria and Northern Ireland: a UK Crown Dependency (but not part of the United Kingdom), with its own ancient parliament, the Court of Tynwald; a dependency of Norway until 1266, when for a time it came under Scottish rule; its own language, Manx, became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived to some extent. 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man

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