men

English Online Dictionary. What means men‎? What does men mean?

Translingual

Symbol

men

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Mende.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Mende terms

English

Etymology

From Middle English men, from Old English menn (“people”), from Proto-Germanic *manniz, nominative plural of Proto-Germanic *mann- (“person”). Cognate with German Männer (“men”), Danish mænd (“men”), Swedish män (“men”). More at man.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛn/
• Rhymes: -ɛn
  • (pin–pen merger) IPA^(key): /mɪn/
  • Rhymes: -ɪn
  • Homophone: min

Noun

men

1. plural of man

Noun

men pl (plural only)

1. (collective, dated) (The) people, humanity, man(kind).
2. (collective, military) Enlisted personnel (as opposed to commissioned officers).

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:men.

Derived terms

• man among men
• menkind
• menfolk
• three-men-in-a-boat

Related terms

• mennish

Translations

Basque

Noun

men

1. A command

Chuukese

Adverb

men

1. softer form of fakkun (“very”)

Cornish

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic *maɣɨn, from Proto-Celtic *maginos. Cognate with Welsh maen.

Noun

men m (plural meyn)

1. stone

Usage notes

• This word mutates irregularly to veyn in the plural after the definite article. It shares this behaviour with margh (“horse”) and no other word.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Possibly from Etymology 1.”)

Adjective

men

1. eager
2. fluent
3. outspoken
4. vigorous

Derived terms

Mutation

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *ben (“I”). Compare Turkish ben (“I”).

Pronoun

men

1. I

Declension

Derived terms

References

• “men”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse mein, from Proto-Germanic *mainą (“damage, hurt, injustice, sin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meːn/, [meːˀn]

Noun

men or mén n or c (singular definite menet or menen, plural indefinite men, plural definite menene)

1. injury

Etymology 2

Same origin as Old Norse meðan (“while”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛn/, [men]

Conjunction

men

1. but
2. (as a noun) but, catch, hitch, snag

   Jeg kan høre, der er et men.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛn/, /mə(n)/
• Hyphenation: men
• Rhymes: -ɛn, -ən

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch men, an unstressed variety of man (“man”). Accordingly, originally pronounced with [ə]; now predominantly with a full vowel [ɛ], a spelling pronunciation common especially in those areas where the word is chiefly literary. Compare German man, Low German men, Middle English men (indefinite pronoun).

Pronoun

men

1. (indefinite, subject) one, you, they, everyone; humanity, (the) people, the public opinion

   Men zegt dat... ― People say that.... It is said that...

   Men weet nooit wat er gaat gebeuren. ― You never know what’s going to happen.

Usage notes

• When not used as a subject, men must be replaced with je (“you”) or sometimes ze (“them”).
• The word as such is very common in Limburg and some other areas, where it is part of the local dialects. Elsewhere it is not downright rare but perceived as formal and predominantly replaced with je and ze even as a subject (similarly to English one).

Related terms

• iemand
• niemand

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

men

1. inflection of mennen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Faroese

Etymology 1

See møna

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [meːn] (noun)
• IPA^(key): [mɛnː] (conjunction)

  Homophone: menn

Noun

men f (genitive singular menar, plural menir or menar)

1. (rare, Mykines) The spinal cord

Declension

Synonyms

• (common) møna

Etymology 2

From Danish men derived from Old Norse meðan (“while”).

Conjunction

men

1. but

Fula

Pronoun

men

1. first person plural exclusive;short form we, us

Usage notes

• Used in Pular.

Dialectal variants

• min (Pulaar, Adamawa, Dageeja, Fouta-toro, Liptaako, Sokoto, Zaria, Gombe)

See also

• enen
• menen
• meɗen
• hiɗen

References

• Oumar Bah, Dictionnaire Pular-Français, Avec un index français-pular, Webonary.org, SIL International, 2014.
• Ritsuko Miyamoto (1993) “A Study of Fula Dialects : Examining the Continuous/Stative Constructions”, in Senri Ethnological Studies‎^[3], volume 35, →DOI, pages 215-230

Haitian Creole

Etymology 1

From French main (“hand”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛ̃/

Noun

men

1. hand

Etymology 2

From French mais (“but”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛ̃/

Conjunction

men

1. but

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse men, from Proto-Germanic *manją. Compare Old English mene.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛːn/
• Rhymes: -ɛːn

Noun

men n (genitive singular mens, nominative plural men)

1. necklace, especially one with a pendant

Declension

Derived terms

• hálsmen (“pendant necklace”)

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmen/
• Rhymes: -en
• Hyphenation: mén

Adverb

men (apocopated)

1. Apocopic form of meno

Contraction

men

1. (literary, archaic) Contraction of me ne.

Japanese

Romanization

men

1. Rōmaji transcription of めん

Kazakh

Etymology 1

From Proto-Turkic *ben (“I”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /men/, [mʲe̘n]

Pronoun

men

1. I (first-person singular nominative and disjunctive pronoun)

Derived terms

See also

Etymology 2

Haplologised variant of менен (menen), from original برلان (birlān /⁠birlän⁠/, attested to be pronounced as mınen).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /men/, [mʲe̘n]

Conjunction

men

1. and

   ata men ana ― father and mother

Louisiana Creole

Etymology

From French main (“hand”).

Noun

men

1. hand

Macaguán

Noun

men

1. water
2. river

References

• Edgar Buenaventura, Observaciones preliminares acerca del idioma macaguán: Apuntes culturales, fonología, apuntes gramaticales, vocabulário macaguán – español (1993)

Mandarin

Romanization

men (men⁵ / men⁰, Zhuyin ˙ㄇㄣ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 們 / 们

Romanization

men

1. Nonstandard spelling of mēn.
2. Nonstandard spelling of mén.
3. Nonstandard spelling of mèn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of mê̄n.

Usage notes

• 《汉语拼音方案》 (Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet) defines a standard pronunciation for each letter in Hanyu Pinyin with Zhuyin. ㄝ (/⁠ɛ⁠/) typically only occurs in syllables with an initial glide (e.g. ㄧㄝ (-ie /⁠i̯ɛ⁠/)), where it is romanized as e. When it occurs in syllables without an initial glide, however, it is romanized as ê in order to distinguish it from ㄜ (-e /⁠ɤ⁠/). Such instances are rare, and are only found in interjections or neologisms.
• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle Dutch

Etymology

An unstressed variety of man.

Pronoun

men

1. someone
2. one, they, you, people; impersonal pronoun.

Inflection

This pronoun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: men
• Limburgish: me

Further reading

• “men”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “men (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

Middle English

Etymology 1

Pronoun

men

1. Alternative form of man (“one, you”)

Etymology 2

From Old English menn, plural of mann, from Proto-Germanic *manniz, plural of *mann-.

Noun

men

1. plural of man (“man”)

Mòcheno

Etymology

An unstressed pronunciation of mònn (“man”). Compare German man, Dutch men for a similar construct.

Pronoun

men

1. one, you (indefinite pronoun)

   Bou mu men parkiarn? ― Where can you park?

References

• “men” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Via Swedish and Danish men, same origin as Old Norse meðan (“while”).

Conjunction

men

1. But, however; introducing a clause that contrasts with the preceding clause, sentence or common belief.
2. though
3. only

   Han er en fin kar, men han snakker litt for mye. – He is a nice guy, but he talks a bit too much.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse mein.

Alternative forms

• mein

Noun

men

1. damage; injury (also mén)
2. permanent disability
3. difficulty; drawback

Etymology 3

Verb

men

1. imperative of mene

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛnː/
• Homophone: menn

Etymology 1

Via Swedish and Danish men, same origin as Old Norse meðan (“while”).

Conjunction

men

1. but, however; introducing a clause that contrasts with the preceding clause, sentence or common belief.
2. though
3. only

Etymology 2

From men.

Noun

men n (definite singular menet, uncountable)

1. difficulty

References

• “men” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *menā, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *menH- (“to trample, tread”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mʲen]

Noun

men f (genitive mine)

1. flour, meal

Declension

Descendants

• Middle Irish: min (from the dative/accusative)
  • Irish: min
  • Manx: meinn
  • Scottish Gaelic: min

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “men, min”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *manją. Cognate with Old English mene.

Noun

men n (genitive mens, plural men)

1. necklace

Declension

Derived terms

• Brísingamen
• menglǫtuðr (“ring-destroyer; kenning for a wealthy ruler”)

Pohnpeian

Verb

men

1. to want

Salar

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *ben.

Pronoun

men

1. First singular personal pronoun; I.

Declension

See also

References

• Tenishev, Edhem (1976) “men”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow, page 224
• 林莲云 [Lin Lianyun] (1985) “men”, in 撒拉语简志 [A Brief History of Salar]‎^[5], Beijing: 民族出版社: 琴書店, →OCLC, page 53
• 马伟 [Ma Wei], 朝克 [Chao Ke] (2014) “men”, in 撒拉语366条会话读本 [Salar 366 Conversation Reader]‎^[6], 1^st edition, 社会科学文献出版社 [Social Science Literature Press], →ISBN, page 111
• Ma, Chengjun, Han, Lianye, Ma, Weisheng (December 2010) “men”, in 米娜瓦尔 艾比布拉 (Minavar Abibra), editor, 撒维汉词典 (Sāwéihàncídiǎn) [Salar-Uyghur-Chinese dictionary] (in Chinese), 1st edition, Beijing, →ISBN, page 180
• 张, 进锋 (Ayso Cañ Cinfen) (2008) 乌璐别格 (Ulubeğ), 鄭初陽 (Çuyañ Yebey oğlı Ceñ), editors, Salar İbret Sözler 撒拉尔谚语 [Salar Proverbs]‎^[7], China Salar Youth League, page 43

Sherbro

Noun

men (plural menti)

1. (chiefly in the plural) water

References

• James Frederick Schön, James Frederick Schön, Sherbro Vocabulary (1839), page 24

Spanish

Noun

men m pl

1. plural of man
2. (Peru, colloquial) dude

Sumerian

Romanization

men

1. Romanization of 𒃞 (men)

Swedish

Etymology 1

From Old Swedish men, from Middle Low German men, man (“but, only”), probably from Old Saxon niwan; possibly under the influence of Old Swedish men (“while, during”) (modern Swedish medan, medans, mens). Cognate with modern Low German man.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛn/

Conjunction

men

1. but; introducing a clause that contrasts with the preceding clause, sentence or common belief.
2. yet, but, however

Derived terms

• om och men

Etymology 2

From Old Norse mein, cognate with Icelandic mein, Norwegian mein, Old Saxon mēn, Old English mān; cognate with Icelandic meinn (“which causes injury”), Old English mǣne (“evil, deceptive”, adj), Lithuanian maĭnas (“change”, noun), Proto-Slavic *měna (“change”, noun); from the Proto-Indo-European root *mei- (“to switch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /meːn/

Noun

men n

1. a handicap, long-time remnant of a physical or mental injury, which affects a person negatively

Declension

Related terms

• menlös

See also

• lyte och men

Turkish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛn/
• Hyphenation: men

Etymology 1

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish منع (menʾ, “a preventing, hindering, hindrance, a forbidding, prohibition”), from Arabic مَنْع (manʕ, “prevention”), verbal noun of مَنَعَ (manaʕa, “to hinder, to prevent, to repel”).

Noun

men (definite accusative meni, plural menler)

1. An act of prohibiting, forbidding

   Synonym: yasaklama

2. An act of preventing, hindering

   Synonyms: engel olma, önleme

Declension

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 2

From Proto-Turkic *ben (“I, me”).

Pronoun

men

1. (dialectal) I, me

   Synonym: (standard) ben

References

Further reading

• “men”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “men”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 3132

Turkmen

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *ben (“I”). Compare Turkish ben (“I”).

Pronoun

men

1. (personal) I

Declension

See also

Further reading

• “men” in Enedilim.com
• “men” in Webonary.org

Uyghur

Pronoun

men

1. Latin (ULY) transcription of مەن (men)

Uzbek

Etymology

Inherited from Chagatai من (min /⁠men⁠/), from Proto-Turkic *be-n (“I”). Cognate with Uyghur مەن / men / мән; Turkish ben; Old Turkic 𐰋𐰤 (b²n² /⁠bän⁠/); etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛn/, [mɛn]
• Hyphenation: men

Pronoun

men

1. (personal) I

Declension

See also

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [mɛn˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [mɛŋ˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [mɛŋ˧˧]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Vietic *-mɛːn.

Noun

men • (綿, 𥽔, 𥾃)

1. yeast
2. (biochemistry) enzyme
3. alcohol (in terms of its euphorigenic or intoxicating effects)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Noun

men

1. enamel
2. (ceramics) glaze

Etymology 3

Verb

men • (綿, 眠)

1. to approach, to go along

Derived terms

Anagrams

• nem

Volapük

Etymology

From German Mann and English man, both from Proto-Germanic *mann-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /men/

Noun

men

1. man (male or female), human, human being

Declension

Hyponyms

• cil (“child”)
• himen (“male human”)
• jimen (“female human”)

Welsh

Etymology

Variant of earlier ben, from Proto-Celtic *bend(n)ā (whence Latin benna), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to bind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛn/

Noun

men f (plural menni or mennau)

1. (vehicles) cart, wagon

Synonyms

Derived terms

• Men Carl, Men Siarlmaen, Men Siarlys (“Charles' Wain, the Big Dipper”)

Mutation

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “men”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Wutunhua

Etymology

From Mandarin 門／门.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mə̃]

Noun

men

1. door

References

• Juha Janhunen, Marja Peltomaa, Erika Sandman, Xiawu Dongzhou (2008) Wutun (LINCOM's Descriptive Grammar Series), volume 466, LINCOM Europa, →ISBN
• Erika Sandman (2016) A Grammar of Wutun‎^[8], University of Helsinki (PhD), →ISBN