woman
/ˈwʊmən/ noun, verb
Forms women womans womaning womanning womaned womanned womxn womyn wom*n wymyn womin wommon womon wimin wimmin wimmen
- noun An adult female human. “the first woman president of Spain”
- noun (collective) All female humans collectively; womankind.
- noun A female person, usually an adult: a (generally adult) female sentient being, whether human, supernatural, elf, alien, etc.
- noun A wife (or sometimes a fiancée or girlfriend).
- noun A female person who is extremely fond of or devoted to a specified type of thing. (Used as the last element of a compound.)
- noun A female attendant or servant.
- verb To staff with female labor.
- verb (transitive) To make effeminate or womanish.
- verb (transitive) To furnish with, or unite to, a woman.
- verb (transitive) To call (a person) “woman” in a disrespectful fashion.
Synonyms
femininity lady female more at Thesaurus:woman babe baggage bim bint bird bitch blone broad chick covess dame donna feme femme femoid frau adult female charwoman char cleaning woman cleaning lady womanhood fair sex
Antonyms
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). 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 construction can be found in West Frisian frommes (“woman, girl”) (from frou and minske, literally "woman human") and Afrikaans vroumens (“woman”, literally “woman-person”).
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, some 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".)
Webster’s 1913
- An adult female person; a grown-up female person, as distinguished from a man or a child; sometimes, any female person.
- The female part of the human race; womankind.
- verb To act the part of a woman in; --with indefinite it. Daniel.
- verb To make effeminate or womanish. [R.] Shak.
Etymology [OE. woman, womman, wumman, wimman, wifmon, AS. wifmann, wimmann; wif woman, wife + mann a man. See Wife, and Man.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “woman”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details