man

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“
But a man is a man, and the last thing to complain of is the exercise of his functions.

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Definitions (133)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (26)

  1. noun An adult male human.
  2. noun A human regardless of sex or age; a person.
  3. noun A human or an adult male human belonging to a specific occupation, group, nationality, or other category. Often used in combination: a milkman; a congressman; a freeman.
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

woman ·  other ·  life ·  time ·  body ·  officer ·  power ·  mind

Used in the same contextWord Family

man:   manned ·  men ·  manning ·  mans
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English mann; see man-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. Also dial, mon; from Middle English man, mon, plural men, from Anglo-Saxon man, mon, mann, monn (plural men, menn), also rarely manna, monna (plural mannan, monnan) = Old Saxon man = OFries. man, mon = Dutch man = Middle Low German man, Low German mann = Old High German Middle High German man, German mann = Icelandic madhr, also rarely manni (in comp. mann-; nominative orig. *manr) = Swedish man = Danish mand = Goth, manna (mannan-, mann-, man-), a man (Latin vir), a human being, a person (Latin homo), in the latter use becoming in Anglo-Saxon man, mon, Middle English man, men, me = Dutch men = Old High German Middle High German G. man = Swedish Danish man = Gothic (Moesogothic), manna, merely pronominal, ‘one’ (cf. French on, ‘one,’ from Latin homo, a man), especially with a negative (Goth.ni manna = German niemand, no one; G. jemand, any one); Teutonic stem in three forms, mann-, mannan-, and man-, as shown in Goth, and Icelandic (the third form man- existing in Gothic (Moesogothic) genitive singular and nominative and accusative plural mans, and prob. also in Icelandic man, neuter, a bondman, bondwoman, girl); the earlier mann- being for *manw-, *manu- (cf. chin, from Anglo-Saxon cin, *cinn = Gothic (Moesogothic) kinnus = Greek γένυς; min, ult. from minu- = Greek μινύς) = Sanskrit manu, man (Manu, the mythical father of the human race (cf. Old Teutonic in L. form Mannus, mentioned by Tacitus as a deity of the ancient Germans)), with deriv. mānusha, man. Cf. Old Bulgarian mazhĭ (orig.*monzhĭ) = Bulgarian mŭzh = Sloven, mōzh = Servian Bohemian muzh = Polish mazh = Little Russian muzh = Russian muzhŭ, a man, husband (later Russian muzhikŭ, a peasant). Not found in Greek, nor in L., unless it be = Latin mas (mar-), a male (if that stands for orig. *mans), later ult. English male, masculine, marital, marry, etc.: see these words. The ult. origin of the Teutonic and Sanskrit word is unknown. It is usually explained as literally ‘the thinker,’ from ✓ man, think (later ult. English mind, mean, Latin men(t-)s, mind, later E.mental, etc.); but that primitive men should think of themselves as ‘thinkers’ is quite incredible: that is a comparatively modern conception. Another derivation, referring to L. manere, remain, dwell, is also improbable. It is not likely that any orig. significant term old enough to have become a general designation for ‘man’ before the Aryan dispersion would have retained its orig. significance. The English man retains the senses of Latin vir and homo; in D. G. Danish the word cognate with English man means vir, while a derivative, D. G. mensch, Danish menueske, etc., means homo: see mensk, mannish. The irreg. plural of man is due to original i- umlaut, the Anglo-Saxon plural men, menn, being orig. *manni, changed to *menni by umlaut, and then abbreviation to menn, men by loss of the final vowel, the radical vowel, thus accidentally changed in the plural, coming to be significant of number. A similar change appears in feet, geese, mice, etc., plural of foot, goose, mouse, etc.
  2. from Middle English mannen, from Anglo-Saxon mannian, gemannian = D. Middle Low German G. mannen = Icelandic manna = Swedish manna = Danish mande, supply with men; from the noun.
  3. Per. mān, Hind, mān, usually man, Sanskrit mana, a measure, a weight, from √mā, measure: hence English maund.
 

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