Man

How to spell man

3 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce man

What does man mean?

1. nounAn adult male human being.
2. verbTo supply with people to operate or defend something.
3. nounHuman beings considered collectively; humankind.

Man in a sentence

• noun

  The older man in the office mentored several new hires.

• verb

  Volunteers will man the help desk throughout the conference.

• noun

  The lecture traced how man learned to harness fire and metal.

• noun

  A tall man in a grey suit waited at the reception desk.

• verb

  Two staff are needed to man the ticket booth at weekends.

Where does man come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a thoroughly native English word, inherited from Old English mann, which originally meant simply 'a human being' or 'a person' of either sex, not specifically a male. It descends from a common Germanic root, related to Dutch man and German Mann, and ultimately from a Proto-Germanic form mann-. The narrowing of the sense to mean specifically 'an adult male' developed gradually during the Old and Middle English periods, while the older neutral meaning survives in words like 'mankind' and 'manslaughter'. Old English actually used 'wer' for an adult male and 'wif' for an adult female, and traces of 'wer' linger today in 'werewolf', literally 'man-wolf'. The spelling has stayed remarkably stable for over a thousand years, which makes it one of the simplest words in English to write.

How the word is built

• man (Old English mann: human being, person)