woman

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

English

Etymology

From Middle English womman, wimman, wifman, from Old English wīfmann (“woman”, literally “female person”), a compound of wīf (“woman, female”, whence English wife) +‎ mann (“person, human being”, whence English man). For details on the pronunciation and spelling history, see the usage notes below.

Cognate with Scots woman, weman (“woman”), Saterland Frisian Wieuwmoanske (“female person, female human, woman”). Similar constructions can be found in West Frisian frommes (“woman, girl”) (from frou and minske, literally "woman human").

A few alternative spellings (see below) respell the term so as not to contain man.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈwʊm.ən/
• (US, dialectal) IPA^(key): /ˈwoʊ.mən/, [ˈwo.mɪn]
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈwʊm.ɘn/
• Hyphenation: wom‧an
• Rhymes: -ʊmən
• Homophone: women (some dialects, common in New Zealand and South Africa)

Noun

woman (plural women)

2. An adult female human.
   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:woman.
3. (collective) All female humans collectively; womankind.
4. A female person, usually an adult; a (generally adult) female sentient being, whether human, supernatural, elf, alien, etc.
5. A wife (or sometimes a fiancée or girlfriend).
   • 1914, D. H. Lawrence, Study of Thomas Hardy and Other Essays, chapter 7: "Of Being and Not-Being":

     And then, when he lies with his woman, the man may concurrently be with God, and so get increase of his soul.

6. A female person who is extremely fond of or devoted to a specified type of thing. (Used as the last element of a compound.)
7. A female attendant or servant.

Usage notes

• The current pronunciation of the first vowel of the singular began to appear in western England in the 13th century under the rounding influence of the w, though the older pronunciation with /i/ (→ modern /ɪ/) remained in use into the 15th century. Although the vowel of the plural was sometimes also altered to /u/ (→ modern /ʊ/) beginning in the 14th century, the pronunciation with /ɪ/ ultimately won out there, possibly under the influence of pairs like foot-feet. However, many speakers (especially of New Zealand English or South African English) have either retained or reinnovated the pronunciation of the plural with /ʊ/. The modern spelling women for the plural is due to influence of the singular; it is attested from the 15th century.

For a time in the 16th and 17th centuries, the pronunciation of the singular sometimes drifted even further back towards /uː/ or /ɔː~oː/ (→ modern /oʊ~əʊ/) and the plural sometimes drifted even further forward towards /iː/, leading to comparisons of the words to "woe man" or "we men".)

• As a term of address, the word is often considered patronizing and at least somewhat offensive; compare the usage of woman as a verb.

• American grammarians and style guides often proscribe/reject the usage of woman as an attributive (a noun used to describe other nouns, as in "a woman leader", a usage which is sometimes mistaken for an adjective). It has been said to be particularly common in Nigeria and India.

Alternative forms

• (feminist spellings; rare:) (singular:) womxn, womyn, (plural:) womxn, womyn, wymyn
• (eye dialect, sometimes also used as feminist spellings:) (singular:) womin, wommon (also obsolete), womon (plural:) wimin, wimmin, wimmen, wymmyn
• (obsolete, 17th c.) weoman
• (obsolete) whoman
• (plural, informal or obsolete) wimen
• (plural, nonstandard, proscribed) womans
• (plural, nonstandard, African-American Vernacular) womens

Synonyms

• lady; female; see more at Thesaurus:woman

Hypernyms

• man (broad sense), human

Hyponyms

Coordinate terms

• (gender): man
• (age): girl

Derived terms

Descendants

• Antigua and Barbuda Creole English: uman
• Aukan: uman
• Jamaican Creole: ooman
• Krio: uman
• Sranan Tongo: uma; oema (superseded)
• Torres Strait Creole: oman
• → Japanese: ウーマン (ūman)
• → Korean: 우먼 (umeon)
• → Volapük: vom

Translations

References

• woman on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Woman (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Verb

woman (third-person singular simple present womans, present participle womaning or womanning, simple past and past participle womaned or womanned)

1. To staff with female labor.
2. (transitive) To make effeminate or womanish.
3. (transitive) To furnish with, or unite to, a woman.
4. (transitive) To call (a person) "woman" in a disrespectful fashion.

Translations

See also

References

Further reading

• “woman”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• woman in Britannica Dictionary
• woman in Ozdic collocation dictionary
• woman in WordReference English Collocations
• “New definitions for "man" and "woman"” by Victor Mair in Language Log (2022-11-13)

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈvoman]

Noun

woman m inan

1. obsolete form of oman (“elecampane”), obsolete spelling of voman (“elecampane”).

Declension

Middle English

Noun

woman (plural women)

1. Alternative form of womman

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwoː.mɑn/

Noun

wōman

1. inflection of wōma:
   1. nominative plural
   2. accusative singular/plural
   3. genitive/dative singular

Upper Sorbian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *omanъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɔman/
• Rhymes: -ɔman
• Hyphenation: wo‧man
• Syllabification: wo‧man

Noun

woman m inan

1. (botany) inula, elecampane (Inula, Inula helenium)

Declension

References

• “woman” in Soblex