# man

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈmæn/ · frequency rank #148

## Definitions
1. An adult male human.
2. An adult male human.
3. An adult male human.
4. An adult male human.
5. An adult male human.
6. A human, a person regardless of gender or sex, usually an adult.
7. A human, a person regardless of gender or sex, usually an adult.
8. A member of the genus Homo, especially of the species Homo sapiens.
9. A male person, usually an adult; a (generally adult male) sentient being, whether human, supernatural, elf, alien, etc.
10. Manliness; the quality or state of being manly.
11. A husband.
12. A male lover; a boyfriend.
13. Used as the last element of a compound.
14. Used as the last element of a compound.
15. A person, usually male, who can fulfill one's requirements with regard to a specified matter.
16. A vassal; a subject.
17. A piece or token used in board games such as backgammon.
18. One of the player's chances to play, lost when the player's character dies or when certain mistakes are made.
19. A term of familiar address often implying on the part of the speaker some degree of authority, impatience, or haste.
20. A term of familiar address usually reserved for other adult males. It works both with ones whose name is known and ones whose name is unknown.
21. A player on whom another is playing, with the intent of limiting their attacking impact.
22. A soldier below the rank of a non-commissioned officer.

## Etymology
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 Manu.
Cognates
Cognate with Yola man (“man; husband”), North Frisian maan, man, moon, muon (“man; husband”), Saterland Frisian Mon (“man; husband”), West Frisian man (“man; husband”), Alemannic German ma, Maa, Mann, mo, mà, Mànn (“man; husband”), Bavarian Mo, mon, moon, Må, mònn (“man; husband”), Cimbrian man, mann, månn (“man; husband”), Dutch man (“man; husband”), German, German Low German, and Luxembourgish Mann (“man; husband”), Mòcheno mònn (“man”), Vilamovian maon, mon, mōn (“man; husband”), Yiddish מאַן (man, “man”), Danish mand (“man; husband”), Faroese and Icelandic maður (“male, man; husband”), Norn and Norwegian Bokmål mann (“man; husband”), Norwegian Nynorsk mann, mainnj (“man; husband”), Swedish man (“man; husband”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌰 (manna, “man; human”); also Latin humanus (“human”), Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian муж (muž, “husband; man”), Bulgarian мъж (mǎž, “man; husband”), Czech and Slovak muž (“man; husband”), Macedonian маж (maž, “man; husband”), Polish mąż (“man; husband”), Serbo-Croatian му̑ж, mȗž (“man; husband”), Slovene mož (“man; husband”), Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬥𐬎𐬱 (manuš, “human”), Sanskrit मनु (manu, “intelligent, thinking, wise”), मनुस् (manus, “man”).

## Easily confused with
- **my** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-my)
- **ME** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-me)
- **Mr** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mr)
- **MS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-ms)
- **MM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mm)
- **MO** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mo)
- **mi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mi)
- **MP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mp)
- **MD** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-md)
- **MT** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mt)
- **MG** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mg)
- **MC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mc)
- **ML** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-ml)
- **MB** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mb)
- **MN** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mn)
- **mu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mu)
- **MK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mk)
- **MW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mw)
- **MV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mv)
- **MJ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/man-vs-mj)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/man