-man

See also: Appendix:Variations of "man"

English

Etymology

From the noun man.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mən/, /mæn/

Suffix

-man (plural -men, feminine -woman)

1. Someone (possibly implied male) who is an expert in an area or who takes part in an activity.

   ‎horse + ‎-man → ‎horseman

   ‎sports + ‎-man → ‎sportsman

2. Someone (possibly implied male) who is employed or holds a position in an area.

   ‎law + ‎-man → ‎lawman

   ‎news + ‎-man → ‎newsman

3. Someone (possibly implied male) who has special characteristics relating to a topic or area.

   ‎free + ‎-man → ‎freeman

   ‎ice + ‎-man → ‎iceman

   ‎super + ‎-man → ‎superman

4. Someone (possibly implied male) who has a particular nationality.

   ‎Scots + ‎-man → ‎Scotsman

   ‎Dutch + ‎-man → ‎Dutchman

   ‎China + ‎-man → ‎Chinaman

   ‎Yorkshire + ‎-man → ‎Yorkshireman

5. A man whose name begins with the preceding letter.

   ‎H + ‎-man → ‎H-man (“man whose name starts with H, e.g. Harry”)

   ‎J + ‎-man → ‎J-man (“man whose name starts with an J”)

6. 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

• 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

• -person

Derived terms

• Category:English terms suffixed with -man

• airman
• bogeyman
• committeeman
• fireman
• freeman
• gunman
• horseman
• iceman
• lawman
• newsman
• sandman
• seaman
• sportsman
• superman

Descendants

See also descendants of man.

• Sranan Tongo: -man
• → French: -man
• → Japanese: マン (-man)
• → Welsh: -mon

References

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

Anagrams

• MNA, N. Am., 'Nam, mna, AMN, Nam, NAM, 'nam, NMA

Albanian

Alternative forms

• -mën — Tosk, dialectal

Etymology

Akin to Romanian -oman. Perhaps borrowed from Ottoman Turkish ـمان (-man), alternatively from Slavic.

Suffix

-man (originally Tosk)

1. forms derogatory adjectives and nouns.

   Synonyms: -laq, -luq, -lec, -rash, -vec

Usage notes

• The vast majority of derived terms also contain the infix -a-.

Derived terms

Albanian terms suffixed with -man

Further reading

• Newmark, L., Hubbard, P., Prifti, P. (1982) Standard Albanian: a reference grammar for students, Stanford University Press, →ISBN, § 3.4.1 D, page 173

Dutch

Etymology

From the Dutch noun man (“man”).

Suffix

-man m (plural -mannen or -lieden or -lui or -mensen)

1. someone (implied male) who is an expert in an area

   sportman ― sportsman

   zakenman ― businessman

2. someone (implied male) who is employed or holds a position in an area

   brandweerman ― fireman

   politieman ― policeman

3. someone (implied male) who has special characteristics relating to an area

   dolleman ― madman

   landsman ― countryman

4. someone (implied male) who is derived from a particular nationality

   Engelsman ― Englishman

   Fransman ― Frenchman

Usage notes

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

Antonyms

• -vrouw f

Derived terms

• brandweerman
• dolleman
• Engelsman
• Fransman
• landsman
• politieman
• sportman
• zakenman
• zeeman

 

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English -man.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /man/

Suffix

-man

1. used to form names of male professions or sportspersons

Usage notes

• 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 also

• -woman

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French -ment (“-ly”).

Suffix

-man

1. used to form adverbs out of adjectives; -ly

Derived terms

Haitian Creole terms suffixed with -man

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From French -mane.

Suffix

-man m

1. (generally) -maniac

Derived terms

Norwegian Bokmål terms suffixed with -man

References

• “-man” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From French -mane.

Suffix

-man m

1. (generally) -maniac

Derived terms

Norwegian Nynorsk terms suffixed with -man

References

• “-man” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Quechua

Suffix

-man

1. 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.

2. potential mood; indicates possibility or potential

   Qam rikunkiman.

   You would see.

   Ñuqaqa manam haqayman purinimanchu.

   I would not walk over there.

Sranan Tongo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /-ˈman/, [-ˈmã̠n], [-ˈmɑ̟̃n]

Suffix

-man

1. 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

Sranan Tongo terms suffixed with -man

Turkish

Suffix

-man

1. Form of -men after the vowels A / I / O / U.