woman
/ˈwʊ.mən/
Noun (plural women)
- An adult female human.
- (collective) All female humans collectively; womankind.
- A female person, usually an adult: a (generally adult) female sentient being, whether human, supernatural, elf, alien, etc.
- A wife (or sometimes a fiancée or girlfriend).
- A female person who is extremely fond of or devoted to a specified type of thing. (Used as the last element of a compound.)
Verb (third-person singular simple present womans, present participle womaning/womanning, simple past and past participle womaned/womanned)
- To staff with female labor.
- (transitive) To make effeminate or womanish.
- (transitive) To furnish with, or unite to, a woman.
- (transitive) To call (a person) "woman" in a disrespectful fashion.
Alternative forms
weoman, whoman, womin, wommon, womon, womxn, womyn
Etymology
From Middle English womman, from earlier 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).
Usage Notes
- 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.
- A few alternative spellings respell the term so as not to contain man.
Synonyms
lady
Hypernyms
fiaspec, genderera
Hyponyms
cis woman, trans woman
Coordinate terms
girl, gyn
man, enban
Derived Terms
womanish
References
- woman - Wiktionary
women
/ˈwɪm.ən/
Noun
- plural of woman
Alternative forms
wimen, wimin, wimmen, wimmin, womans, womens, wymmyn, wymyn
Etymology
From Middle English wimmen, from Old English wīfmenn ("women"), from wīf ("female") + menn ("men, persons, human beings"), equivalent to wife + men. Spelling (with o) influenced by the singular; see woman for more.
Synonyms
ladies
Hypernyms
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Hyponyms
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Coordinate terms
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Derived Terms
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See Also
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References
- women - Wiktionary