-man
See also: Appendix:Variations of "man"
English
Etymology
From the noun man.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mən/, /mæn/
Suffix
-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 man whose name begins with the preceding letter.
- 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
Derived terms
- Category:English terms suffixed with -man
Descendants
See also descendants of man.
References
- “-man”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Albanian
Etymology
Akin to Romanian -oman. Perhaps borrowed from Ottoman Turkish ـمان (-man),[1] alternatively from Slavic.[2][3]
Suffix
- 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
References
- Kaleshi, Hasan (1971) “The importance of Turkish influence upon word formation in Albanian”, in Balcanica, volume 2, page 287f.
- Xhuvani, A., Çabej, E. (1962) Prapashtesat e gjuhës shqipe (in Albanian)
- Arapi, Ina (2012) Wolfgang Dahmen, editor, Südosteuropäische Romania (in German), Narr Verlag, →ISBN, page 146
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)
- 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 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
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /man/
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
Haitian Creole
Norwegian Bokmål
Derived terms
Norwegian Bokmål terms suffixed with -man
References
- “-man” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Derived terms
Norwegian Nynorsk terms suffixed with -man
References
- “-man” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Quechua
Suffix
-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 Tongo
Suffix
-man
- 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
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.