-man
See also: Appendix:Variations of "man"
English
editEtymology
editFrom the noun man.
Pronunciation
editSuffix
edit-man (plural -men, feminine -woman)
- Someone (possibly implied male) who is an expert in an area or who takes part in an activity.
- Someone (possibly implied male) who is employed or holds a position in an area.
- Someone (possibly implied male) who has special characteristics relating to a topic or area.
- Someone (possibly implied male) who has a particular nationality.
- A man whose name begins with the preceding letter.
- 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
edit- 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
editDerived terms
editDescendants
editSee also descendants of man.
References
edit- “-man”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Anagrams
editAlbanian
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editAkin to Romanian -oman. Perhaps borrowed from Ottoman Turkish ـمان (-man),[1] alternatively from Slavic.[2][3]
Suffix
edit- forms derogatory adjectives and nouns.
Usage notes
edit- The vast majority of derived terms also contain the infix -a-.
Derived terms
editReferences
edit- ^ Kaleshi, Hasan (1971) “The importance of Turkish influence upon word formation in Albanian”, in Balcanica, volume 2, page 287f.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Xhuvani, A., Çabej, E. (1962) Prapashtesat e gjuhës shqipe (in Albanian)
- ^ Arapi, Ina (2012) Wolfgang Dahmen, editor, Südosteuropäische Romania[1] (in German), Narr Verlag, →ISBN, page 146
Further reading
edit- Newmark, L., Hubbard, P., Prifti, P. (1982) Standard Albanian: a reference grammar for students, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, § 3.4.1 D, page 173
Catalan
editEtymology
editFrom Ancient Greek -μανής (-manḗs).
Suffix
edit-man m (feminine -mana)
- Forms adjectives pertaining to particular manias or addictions.
- biblio- + -man → bibliòman (“bibliomaniacal”)
- cocaïna + -man → cocaïnòman (“addicted to cocaine”)
- -mane, -maniac (forms nouns referring to persons suffering from particular manias or addictions)
- clepto- + -man → cleptòman (“cleptomaniac”)
- morfina + -man → morfinòman (“morphine addict”)
Usage notes
editGenerally used with a stressed form of the interfix -o- to ease pronunciation.
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
edit- “-man”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
Danish
editEtymology
editSuffix
edit-man c
- (generally) -maniac
Derived terms
editCategory Danish terms suffixed with -man not found
References
edit- “-man” in Den Danske Ordbog
Dutch
editEtymology
editFrom the Dutch noun man (“man”).
Suffix
edit-man m (plural -mannen or -lieden or -lui or -mensen)
- someone (implied male) who is an expert in an area
- someone (implied male) who is employed or holds a position in an area
- brandweerman ― fireman
- politieman ― policeman
- someone (implied male) who has special characteristics relating to an area
- someone (implied male) who is derived from a particular nationality
Usage notes
editThe plural form of -man is -lieden (-lui in spoken language) or sometimes -mannen and -mensen, e.g.
- sportlieden / sportlui ― sportsmen
- brandweerlieden / brandweerlui / brandweermannen ― firemen
- politiemannen / politiemensen ― policemen
- Fransmannen / Fransen ― Frenchmen
Antonyms
edit- -vrouw f
Derived terms
editFrench
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editSuffix
edit-man m (plural -mans or -men, feminine -woman)
- used to form names of male professions or sportspersons
Usage notes
edit- In European and Canadian French, most words with this ending like businessman are borrowed directly from English, while some such as tennisman are not.
- 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”).
Haitian Creole
editEtymology
editSuffix
edit-man
- used to form adverbs out of adjectives; -ly
Derived terms
editNorwegian Bokmål
editEtymology
editSuffix
edit-man m
- (generally) -maniac
Derived terms
editReferences
edit- “-man” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
editEtymology
editSuffix
edit-man m
- (generally) -maniac
Derived terms
editReferences
edit- “-man” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Quechua
editSuffix
edit-man
- 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.
- Llaqtaman risaq.
- potential mood; indicates possibility or potential
- Qam rikunkiman.
- You would see.
- Ñuqaqa manam haqayman purinimanchu.
- I would not walk over there.
- Qam rikunkiman.
Sranan Tongo
editPronunciation
editSuffix
edit-man
- 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
editTurkish
editSuffix
edit-man
- Form of -men after the vowels A / I / O / U.
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *mon-
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English suffixes
- Albanian terms borrowed from Ottoman Turkish
- Albanian terms derived from Ottoman Turkish
- Albanian terms derived from Slavic languages
- Albanian lemmas
- Albanian suffixes
- Tosk Albanian
- Catalan terms derived from Ancient Greek
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan suffixes
- Catalan masculine suffixes
- Danish terms derived from French
- Danish lemmas
- Danish suffixes
- Danish common-gender suffixes
- Danish noun-forming suffixes
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch suffixes
- Dutch noun-forming suffixes
- Dutch masculine suffixes
- Dutch terms with usage examples
- French terms borrowed from English
- French terms derived from English
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French suffixes
- French masculine suffixes
- Haitian Creole terms derived from French
- Haitian Creole lemmas
- Haitian Creole suffixes
- Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from French
- Norwegian Bokmål lemmas
- Norwegian Bokmål suffixes
- Norwegian Bokmål masculine suffixes
- Norwegian Bokmål noun-forming suffixes
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *men- (think)
- Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from French
- Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas
- Norwegian Nynorsk suffixes
- Norwegian Nynorsk masculine suffixes
- Quechua lemmas
- Quechua suffixes
- Sranan Tongo terms with IPA pronunciation
- Sranan Tongo lemmas
- Sranan Tongo suffixes
- Turkish non-lemma forms
- Turkish suffix forms