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woman (n.)
"adult female human," late Old English wimman, wiman (plural wimmen), literally "woman-
man," alteration of wifman (plural wifmen) "woman, female servant" (8c.), a compound of wif
"woman" (see wife) + man "human being" (in Old English used in reference to both sexes; see
man (n.)). Compare Dutch vrouwmens "wife," literally "woman-man."
It is notable that it was thought necessary to join wif, a neuter noun, representing a female
person, to man, a masc. noun representing either a male or female person, to form a word
denoting a female person exclusively. [Century Dictionary]
The formation is peculiar to English and Dutch. Replaced older Old English wif and quean as
the word for "female human being," as in Jesus's answer to his mother, in Anglo-Saxon
gospels la, wif, hwæt is me and þe? (John ii:4 "Woman, what have I to do with thee?").
The pronunciation of the singular altered in Middle English by the rounding influence of -w-;
the plural retains the original vowel. Meaning "wife," now largely restricted to U.S. dialectal
use, is attested from mid-15c.
In American English, lady is "In loose and especially polite usage, a woman" [Craigie,
"Dictionary of American English"]. This peculiarity was much commented upon by English
travelers; in the U.S. the custom was considered especially Southern, but the English didn't
bother with nice distinctions and regarded it simply as American. "This noble word [woman],
spirit-stirring as it passes over English ears, is in America banished, and 'ladies' and 'females'
substituted; the one to English taste mawkish and vulgar; the other indistinctive and gross.
The effect is odd." [Harriet Martineau, 1837]
Woman-hater "misogynist" is from c. 1600. Women's work, that considered appropriate to
women, is from 1660s. Women's liberation is attested from 1966; women's rights is from
1840, with an isolated example in 1630s.
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Entries linking to woman
lady (n.)
c. 1200, lafdi, lavede, from Old English hlæfdige (Northumbrian hlafdia, Mercian hlafdie),
"mistress of a household, wife of a lord," apparently literally "one who kneads bread,"
from hlaf "bread" (see loaf (n.)) + -dige "maid," which is related to dæge "maker of dough"
(which is the first element in dairy; see dey (n.1)). Also compare lord (n.)). Century
Dictionary finds this etymology "improbable," and OED rates it "not very plausible with
regard to sense," but no one seems to have a better explanation.
The medial -f- disappeared 14c. (compare woman, head, had). The word is not found
outside English except where borrowed from it. The sense of "woman of superior position
in society" is c. 1200; that of "woman whose manners and sensibilities befit her for high
rank in society" is from 1861 (ladylike suggesting this sense is attested from 1580s, and
ladily from c. 1400). The meaning "woman chosen as an object of chivalrous love" is from
early 14c. Used commonly as an address to any woman since 1890s.
Applied since Old English to the Holy Virgin, hence many extended usages in plant
names, place names, etc., from genitive singular hlæfdigan, which in Middle English
merged with the nominative, so that lady- often represents (Our) Lady's, as in ladybug.
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Lady Day (late 13c.) was the festival of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary (March 25).
Ladies' man first recorded 1784; lady-killer "man supposed to be dangerously fascinating
to women" is from 1811. Lady of pleasure recorded from 1640s. Lady's slipper as a type
of orchid is from 1590s.
man (n.)
"a featherless plantigrade biped mammal of the genus Homo" [Century
Dictionary], Old English man, mann "human being, person (male or female);
brave man, hero;" also "servant, vassal, adult male considered as under the
control of another person," from Proto-Germanic *mann- (source also of Old
Saxon, Swedish, Dutch, Old High German man, Old Frisian mon, German Mann, Old Norse
maðr, Danish mand, Gothic manna "man"), from PIE root *man- (1) "man." For the plural,
see men.
Sometimes connected to root *men- (1) "to think," which would make the ground sense
of man "one who has intelligence," but not all linguists accept this. Liberman, for
instance, writes, "Most probably man 'human being' is a secularized divine name" from
Mannus [Tacitus, "Germania," chap. 2], "believed to be the progenitor of the human race."
Specific sense of "adult male of the human race" (distinguished from a woman or boy) is
by late Old English (c. 1000); Old English used wer and wif to distinguish the sexes, but wer
began to disappear late 13c. and was replaced by man. Universal sense of the word
remains in mankind and manslaughter. Similarly, Latin had homo "human being" and
vir "adult male human being," but they merged in Vulgar Latin, with homo extended to
both senses. A like evolution took place in Slavic languages, and in some of them the
word has narrowed to mean "husband." PIE had two other "man" roots: *uiHro "freeman"
(source of Sanskrit vira-, Lithuanian vyras, Latin vir, Old Irish fer, Gothic wair; see *wi-ro-)
and *hner "man," a title more of honor than *uiHro (source of Sanskrit nar-, Armenian ayr,
Welsh ner, Greek anēr; see *ner- (2)).
Man also was in Old English as an indefinite pronoun, "one, people, they." It was used
generically for "the human race, mankind" by c. 1200. As a word of familiar address,
originally often implying impatience, c.1400; hence probably its use as an interjection of
surprise or emphasis, since Middle English but especially popular from early 20c.
As "a woman's lover," by mid-14c. As "adult male possessing manly qualities in an
eminent degree," from 14c. Man's man, one whose qualities are appreciated by other
men, is by 1873. Colloquial use of the Man for "the boss" is by 1918. To be man or mouse
"be brave or be timid" is from 1540s. Meaning "piece with which a game (especially chess)
is played" is from c. 1400.
Man-about-town "man of the leisure class who frequents clubs, theaters, and other social
resorts" is from 1734. Man of the world is from mid-14c. as "secular man, layman;" by
early 15c. as "man experienced in the ways of the world, one able to take things in
stride." To do something as one man "unanimously" is from late 14c.
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So I am as he that seythe, 'Come hyddr John, my man.' [1473]
MANTRAP, a woman's commodity. [Grose, "Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," London,
1785]
At the kinges court, my brother, Ech man for himself. [Chaucer, "Knight's Tale," c. 1386]
wife chairwoman charwoman clergywoman gentlewoman had horsewoman
Irishwoman laywoman saleswoman womanhood womanish womanize
womankind womanly women wonder woman See all related words (19) >
Trends of woman
Trending words
1. queue
2. cognition
3. august
adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.
4. talent
updated on August 08, 2022
5. patience
6. thank
7. shenanigan
8. firmament
9. beaver
10. alligator
Dictionary entries near woman
wolfish
wolfram
wolfsbane
Wolof
wolverine
woman
womanhood
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woman | Etymology, origin and meaning of woman by e... https://www.etymonline.com/word/woman
womanise
womanish
womanize
womankind
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