Meaning and Origin
What does the name Man mean? Keep reading to find the user submitted meanings, dictionary definitions, and more.
User Submitted Origins
User Submitted Meanings
- A submission from New York, U.S. says the name Man means "a grown male".
- A user from New Zealand says the name Man is of Kyrgyz (Kyrgyzstan) origin and means "Male".
- A submission from the United Kingdom says the name Man means "A grown up boy" and is of English origin.
- According to a user from Singapore, the name Man means "king".
- A human being; -- opposed to beast."These men went about wide, and man found they none, But fair country, and wild beast many [a] one." [R. of Glouc.]"The king is but a man, as I am; the violet smells to him as it doth to me." [Shak.]"'Tain't a fit night out for man nor beast!" [W. C. Fields]
- Especially:An adult male person; a grown-up male person, as distinguished from a woman or a child."When I became a man, I put away childish things." [I Cor. xiii. 11.]"Ceneus, a woman once, and once a man." [Dryden.]
- The human race; mankind."And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion." [Gen. i. 26.]"The proper study of mankind is man." [Pope.]
- The male portion of the human race."Woman has, in general, much stronger propensity than man to the discharge of parental duties." [Cowper.]
- One possessing in a high degree the distinctive qualities of manhood; one having manly excellence of any kind."This was the noblest Roman of them all . . . the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world “This was a man!”" [Shak.]
- An adult male servant; also, a vassal; a subject."Like master, like man." [Old Proverb.]"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 honor." [Blackstone.]
- A term of familiar address at one time implying on the part of the speaker some degree of authority, impatience, or haste; as, Come, man, we 've no time to lose! In the latter half of the 20th century it became used in a broader sense as simply a familiar and informal form of address, but is not used in business or formal situations; as, hey, man! You want to go to a movie tonight?.(Informal)
- A married man; a husband; -- correlative to wife."I pronounce that they are man and wife." [Book of Com. Prayer.]"every wife ought to answer for her man." [Addison.]
- One, or any one, indefinitely; -- a modified survival of the Saxon use of man, or mon, as an indefinite pronoun."A man can not make him laugh." [Shak.]"A man would expect to find some antiquities; but all they have to show of this nature is an old rostrum of a Roman ship." [Addison.]
- One of the piece with which certain games, as chess or draughts, are played.
Note: ☞ Man is often used as a prefix in composition, or as a separate adjective, its sense being usually self-explaining; as, man child, man eater or maneater, man-eating, man hater or manhater, man-hating, manhunter, man-hunting, mankiller, man-killing, man midwife, man pleaser, man servant, man-shaped, manslayer, manstealer, man-stealing manthief, man worship, etc. Man is also used as a suffix to denote a person of the male sex having a business which pertains to the thing spoken of in the qualifying part of the compound; ash man, butter man, laundry man, lumber man, milk man, fire man, repair man, show man, water man, wood man. Where the combination is not familiar, or where some specific meaning of the compound is to be avoided, man is used as a separate substantive in the foregoing sense; as, apple man, cloth man, coal man, hardware man, wood manas distinguished from wood man).
Etymology: AS. mann man monn mon; akin to OS., D., & OHG. man, G. mann, Icel. maðr, for mannr, Dan. Mand, Sw. man, Goth. manna, Skr. manu manus, and perh. to Skr. man to think, and E. mind. √104. Cf. Minx a pert girl
- To supply with men; to furnish with a sufficient force or complement of men, as for management, service, defense, or the like; to guard; as, to man a ship, boat, or fort."See how the surly Warwick mans the wall !" [Shak.]"They man their boats, and all their young men arm." [Waller.]
- To furnish with strength for action; to prepare for efficiency; to fortify."Theodosius having mannedhis soul with proper reflections." [Addison.]
- To tame, as a hawk.(R)
- To furnish with a servant or servants.(Obs)
- To wait on as a manservant.(Obs)
Note: ☞ In “Othello,” V. ii. 270, the meaning is uncertain, being, perhaps: To point, to aim, or to manage.
- Any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae characterized by superior intelligence, articulate speech, and erect carriage
- All of the living human inhabitants of the earth ("she always used `humankind' because `mankind' seemed to slight the women")
- Game equipment consisting of an object used in playing certain board games
- One of the British Isles in the Irish Sea
- An adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
- A male person who plays a significant role (husband or lover or boyfriend) in the life of a particular woman ("she takes good care of her man")
- An adult male person who has a manly character (virile and courageous competent) ("the army will make a man of you")
- The generic use of the word to refer to any human being ("it was every man for himself")
- A male subordinate ("he awaited word from his man in Havana")
- Someone who serves in the armed forces; a member of a military force
- A manservant who acts as a personal attendant to his employer ("Jeeves was Bertie Wooster's man")
- Provide with workers ("We cannot man all the desks" and "Students were manning the booths")
- Take charge of a certain job; occupy a certain work place ("Mr. Smith manned the reception desk in the morning")
From man
- The genus Homo.
- (poetic) Humankind in general.
From Old Irish Mana, from Proto-Celtic *moniyos, from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to tower, stand out”).
- The Isle of Man.
From Cantonese 文 (man4).
- A surname of Chinese origin.
From Cantonese 萬／万 (maan6).
- A surname of Chinese origin.
Man was also found in the following language(s): Dutch, North Frisian, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Tagalog