-man
See also: Appendix:Variations of "man"
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From the noun man.
PronunciationEdit
SuffixEdit
-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 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 notesEdit
- 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.
HypernymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
See also descendants of man.
ReferencesEdit
- “-man”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
AnagramsEdit
DutchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From the Dutch noun man (“man”).
SuffixEdit
-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 notesEdit
The 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
AntonymsEdit
- -vrouw f
Derived termsEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
SuffixEdit
-man
- used to form names of male professions or sportspersons
Usage notesEdit
- In European and Canadian French, most words with this ending like businessman are borrowed directly from English, while some such as tennisman are not. The plural may be -mans or -men.
- 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”).
See alsoEdit
Haitian CreoleEdit
EtymologyEdit
SuffixEdit
-man
- used to form adverbs out of adjectives; -ly
Norwegian BokmålEdit
EtymologyEdit
SuffixEdit
-man m
- (generally) -maniac
Derived termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “-man” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian NynorskEdit
EtymologyEdit
SuffixEdit
-man m
- (generally) -maniac
Derived termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “-man” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
QuechuaEdit
SuffixEdit
-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 TongoEdit
SuffixEdit
-man
- Person suffix, used to derive agent nouns from verbs and nouns of people characterised by a trait from nouns and adjectives.