-woman

See also: woman

English

Etymology

From Middle English -woman, from the noun woman.

Suffix

-woman (plural -women, masculine -man)

1. A woman who is an expert in an area.

   horsewoman, sportswoman

2. A woman who is employed or holds a position in an area.

   committeewoman, newswoman, policewoman

3. A woman who has special characteristics relating to a topic or area.

   bogeywoman, superwoman

4. A woman of a particular nationality.

   Scotswoman, Norsewoman

Usage notes

• To include people regardless of gender, either the suffix -person is used, or a gender-neutral hypernym, for example police officer instead of policewoman.

Hypernyms

• -person

Derived terms

English terms suffixed with -woman

Descendants

• → French: -woman

References

• “-woman”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English.

Suffix

-woman f (plural -womans or -women)

1. used to form the names of female sportspersons or professions

Usage notes

• Most of these like businesswoman are borrowed directly from English, while some such as tenniswoman are not. The plural may be -womans or -women.

Derived terms

French terms suffixed with -woman

See also

• -man