man – English noun declension

English noun forms of man

Noun: man
Singularman
Pluralmen

Sample Sentences

  • The show is especially popular with middle-aged men.
  • The king is but a man, as I am; the violet smells to him as it doth to me. [1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:]
  • “I want you to know that I hate you, that I think you are a cur, and that I'll never, never speak to you again. Oh, I don't dare to say what I think of you, you — man!” [1889, Rudyard Kipling, “A Wayside Comedy”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 75:]
  • “[…]it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.” [1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:]
  • THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. [1776 December 19, Thomas Paine, The American Crisis:]
  • Unsurprisingly, if modern man is a sort of camera, modern woman is a picture. [2011, Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity: Staying In, page 109:]
  • When President Roosevelt goes walking in the country about Washington he is always accompanied by two Secret Service men. [1909, Harper's Weekly, volume 53, page iii:]
  • "And they're very good people, I assure you — he's a Harvard man." It was the first time Milly had met on intimate terms a graduate of a large university. [1913, Robert Herrick, One Woman's Life, page 46:]
  • He’s more a man than any pair of rats of you in this here house[…] [1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “In The Enemy’s Camp”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part VI (Captain Silver), page 234:]
  • I had the opportunity to marry one of them but wasn't mature enough to be a man and marry her and be close to the[…]children and raise them[…]. [2011, Timothy Shephard, Can We Help Us?: Growing Up Bi-Racial in America, →ISBN, page 181:]
  • every man for himself
  • […]a man cannot make him laugh. [c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:]
  • Recompence to no man euill for euill. [1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 12:17:]
  • No man is an Iland, intire of it ſelfe; euery man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; […] [1624, John Donne, “17. Meditation”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, pages 415–416:]
  • A man would expect, in so very ancient a town of Italy, to find some considerable antiquities; but all they have to show of this nature is an old Rostrum of a Roman ship, that stands over the door of their arsenal. [c. 1700, Joseph Addison, Monaco, Genoa, &c., page 9:]
  • THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. [1776 December 19, Thomas Paine, The American Crisis:]
  • Without this help, such a deplorable havoc is made in the minds of men (both sexes) in France, still more than in the external order of things, and the evil is so great and spreading, that a remedy is impossible on any other terms. [1793 August, Edmund Burke, “The Right Hon. Edmund Burke to the Comte de Mercy”, in Charles William [Wentworth-Fitzwilliam], [5th] Earl Fitzwilliam, Richard Bourke, editors, Correspondence of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke; Between the Year 1744, and the Period of His Decease, in 1797, volume IV, London: Francis & John Rivington, […], published 1844, pages 144–145:]
  • Similarly, the next time you learn from your reading that the average man (you hear a good deal about him these days, most of it faintly improbable) brushes his teeth 1.02 times a day—a figure I have just made up, but it may be as good as anyone else's – ask yourself a question. How can anyone have found out such a thing? Is a woman who has read in countless advertisements that non-brushers are social offenders going to confess to a stranger that she does not brush her teeth regularly? [1991 edition (original: 1953), Darell Huff, How to Lie with Statistics, pages 19–20]
  • How did God create man?
  • God created man male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. [1647, Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 10]
  • THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. [1776 December 19, Thomas Paine, The American Crisis:]
  • This consideration must surely tell us that all living things were not made for man. Many of them have no relation to him. The cycle of their existence has gone on independently of his, and is disturbed or broken by every advance in man’s intellectual development; and their happiness and enjoyments, their loves and hates, their struggles for existence, their vigorous life and early death, would seem to be immediately related to their own well-being and perpetuation alone[.] [1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 224:]
  • Academics who study Aboriginal languages are […] contributing to Man’s search for knowledge, a search that interests most people even if they are not personally involved in it. [1991, Barry J. Blake, Australian Aboriginal Languages: A General Introduction, page 75:]
  • Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless. [2013 July 20, “Old soldiers?”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:]
  • We are striving to forge our union with purpose. To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man. [2021 January 20, Amanda Gorman, The Hill We Climb:]
  • THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. [1776 December 19, Thomas Paine, The American Crisis:]
  • The evidence suggests that close relatives of early man, in lineages that later became extinct, also were able to use tools. [1990, The Almanac of Science and Technology, →ISBN, page 68:]
  • For God is holde a ryghtwys man. [c. 1500, “A Gest of Robyn Hode”, in Child Ballads:]
  • God's a good man. [1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v]:]
  • Expect: But was the devil a proper man, gossip? / As fine a gentleman of his inches as ever I saw trusted to the stage, or any where else. [1609 December (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Epicoene, or The Silent Woman. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):]
  • Clearing a space between the tables, the men tested their prowess against one another with feats of wrestling and archery and bouts with quarterstaves. Two of the elves, a man and a woman, demonstrated their skill with swordplay—[…] [2008, Christopher Paolini, Brisingr: Or The Seven Promises of Eragon Shadeslayer and Saphira Bjartskular - Inheritance Book Three, →ISBN, page 549:]
  • There was a pair of burly dwarves – a woman and a man – bearing the markings of the formidable Thane Guards. [2014, Oisin McGann, Kings of the Realm: Cruel Salvation, Penguin UK, →ISBN:]
  • Methought he bare himself in such a fashion, / So full of man, and sweetness in his carriage, /[…] [1598, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):]
  • I pronounce that they are man and wife. [1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC:]
  • In the next place, every wife ought to answer for her man. [1715, Joseph Addison, The Freeholder:]
  • Stay away from my man!
  • Some people prefer apple pie, but me, I’m a cherry pie man.
  • I wanted to be a guitar man on a road tour, but instead I’m a flag man on a road crew.
  • "She's the man for the job." [2007, Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night, →ISBN, page 553:]
  • Joanie volunteered, of course — if any dirty job is on offer requiring running, she's your man — [2008, Soccer Dad: A Father, a Son, and a Magic Season, →ISBN, page 148:]
  • He also owns the only backhoe tractor on Elbow Cay, so whenever anyone needs a cistern dug, he's their man. [2012, The Island Caper: A Jake Lafferty Action Novel, →ISBN, page 34:]
  • Like master, like man.
  • all the king's men
  • The vassal, or tenant, kneeling, ungirt, uncovered, and holding up his hands between those of his lord, professed that he did become his man from that day forth, of life, limb, and earthly honour. [c. 1700s, William Blackstone]
  • No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait. [1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 46:]
  • The white men are always put on that side of the board which commences by row I, and the black men are placed opposite. [1883, Henry Richter, Chess Simplified!, page 4:]
  • […] a short analysis will undoubtedly convince the solver than the queen is the most likely man to make the keymove. The greatest difficulty undoubtedly will be in finding the second move continuations. [1961, Kenneth S. Howard, How to Solve Chess Problems (page 137)]
  • Most machines are set to award you an extra man after 8000 points, and then after each additional 14.000 points. [1983, William Brohaugh, “Q*Bert: A player's guide”, in Video & Arcade Games, volume 1, number 2, page 31:]
  • Come on, man, we've got no time to lose!
  • Eternal Life is now on my trail / Got my red glitter coffin, man, just need one last nail / While all these ugly gentlemen play out their foolish games / There's a flaming red horizon that screams our names / And as your fantasies are broken in two / Did you really think this bloody road would pave the way for you? / You better turn around and blow your kiss hello to life eternal, angel / Racist everyman, what have you done? / Man, you've made a killer of your unborn son / Crown my fear your king at the point of a gun / All I want to do is love everyone [1995, “Eternal Life”, in Grace (Hard Rock), performed by Jeff Buckley, United States:]
  • Near-synonyms: my man, bro, brother
  • Hey, man, how's it goin'? I haven't seen you in months! [they know each other's name]
  • Hey, man, thanks for holding the door! [they don't know each other's name, and it doesn't matter]
  • 2018 Dinny Navaratnam, Andrews will learn from experience: Fagan Brisbane Lions, 30 July 2018. Accessed 6 August 2018.
  • "It was a brutal return to football for Brisbane Lions defender Harris Andrews as his man Tom Hawkins booted seven goals but Lions Coach Chris Fagan said the team's defensive faults, rather than the backman's, allowed the big Cat to dominate."
  • The second arrived three minutes later and was all Saka's own work, the Arsenal winger turning away from his man on the edge of the area and curling a superb effort beyond the reach of Anatoliy Trubin and into the top corner. [2023 March 26, Phil McNulty, “England 2-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport:]

Etymology

1. From Middle English man, from Old English mann m (“human being, person, man”), from Proto-West Germanic *mann, from Proto-Germanic *mann- (“man”), from Proto-Indo-European *mon- (“human being, man”). Doublet of mann and Manu.
2. Cognates
3. This word has many cognates, in every Germanic language (whether extant or extinct), with similarities in form and meaning.
4. Virtually all the words below mean “man” and “husband”, with some specific cases noted.
5. In Ingvaeonic (the languages closest to English):
6. :* Low German Mann
7. :* North Frisian maan, man, moon, muon
8. :* Saterland Frisian Mon
9. :* Scots man
10. :* West Frisian man
11. :* Yola man
12. In the remainder of West Germanic:
13. :* Alemannic German ma, Maa, Mann, mo, mà, Mànn
14. :* Bavarian Mo, mon, moon, Må, mònn
15. :* Cimbrian man, mann, månn
16. :* Dutch, Limburgish, and Zealandic man
17. :* German and Luxembourgish Mann
18. :* Mòcheno mònn
19. :* Vilamovian maon, mon, mōn
20. :* Yiddish מאַן (man)
21. In East Germanic:
22. :* Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌰 (manna), which meant “man”, “human“ and “person”, but likely also “husband”
23. In North Germanic:
24. :* Danish mand
25. :* Faroese and Icelandic maður, both additionally meaning “human” and “person”, as in Old Norse
26. :* Gutnish and Swedish man
27. :* Norn, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk mann
28. :* Norwegian Nynorsk mainnj
29. :* Old Norse maðr
30. Outside Germanic:
31. : Indo-Iranian:
32. ::* Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬥𐬎𐬱 (manuš, “human”)
33. ::* Sanskrit मनुस् (manus, “human”), मनु (manu, “human; humanity; thought”; “thinking; wise; intelligent”)
34. ::* Also Sanskrit म॒नु॒ष्य॑ (manuṣyà, “human; man; huband”, whence English manusya)
35. : Slavic (all of these mean “man” and “husband”, though in some cases the former is no longer part of the modern standard):
36. ::* Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian муж (muž)
37. ::* Bulgarian мъж (măž)
38. ::* Czech and Slovak muž
39. ::* Macedonian маж (maž)
40. ::* Polish mąż (“husband”; the meaning “man” is obsolete, akin to English wife)
41. ::* Serbo-Croatian му̑ж, mȗž
42. ::* Slovene mož See: Middle English Nouns 'man', Old English Nouns 'mann', Gothic Nouns '𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌰', Danish Nouns 'mand', Norwegian Nynorsk Nouns 'mainnj', Old Norse Nouns 'maðr', Bulgarian Nouns 'мъж', Polish Nouns 'mąż'.

Verbs referencing "man"

Norwegian Bokmål Nouns mann, Norwegian Nynorsk Nouns mann, Spanish Nouns man, English Nouns woman, French Nouns allemand, Danish Nouns mand, Gothic Nouns 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌰, Finnish Nouns self-made-man.