townsman
noun
townsman is spelled T-O-W-N-S-M-A-N: 8 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 95,993rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, townsman means “A man who is a resident of a town, especially of one's own town” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of townsman is townsmen.
How many letters and syllables are in townsman?
| Letters | 8: T-O-W-N-S-M-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 10 million words; the 95,993rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is townsman?
Townsman appears about once in every 10 million words in written English, the 95,993rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce townsman?
- US
Townsman has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-townsman.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of townsman
- townsmen plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does townsman mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A man who is a resident of a town, especially of one's own town.
- 2
A resident of a university town, as opposed to a scholar at the university; a townie.
- 3
Synonym of oppidan (“type of student”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Townsman in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense male resident of a town:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | citadin |
| German | Bürger, Stadtbewohner |
| Portuguese | cidadão |
| Spanish | pueblero, pueblerino |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does townsman come from?
From Middle English townes-man, from Old English tūnmann, tūnes mann, equivalent to town + -s- + man.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).