Woman

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /ˈwÊŠmÉ™n/
• Hyphenation: wom + an
• Rhymes: -ÊŠmÉ™n

Alternative forms

• womon, womyn, wymyn feminist spellings of woman and/or women
• wimmen, wimmen eye-dialect spellings of women, also used by some feminists

Origin

From Middle English woman, wimman, wifman, from Old English wīfmann ("woman, female servant", literally female person, female human being), equivalent to wife + man. Compare Dutch vrouwmens ("wife", literally woman-person). Compare also West Frisian frommes ("woman, girl") (from frou and minske, literally "woman human-being"), Dutch vrouwspersoon ("woman"), German Weibsperson ("female person"), and dialectal German Fraumensch ("woman", literally woman human-being).

Full definition of woman

Noun

1. An adult female human.
• Bible, Genesis 2:22:And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman.
• J. Ledyard:I have observed among all nations that the women ornament themselves more than the men ...
• 1887, Helen Campbell, Prisoners of poverty: their trades and their lives, page 120:But this woman is a nice German woman that fell on the ice and sprained her ankle last winter, and we saw to her well as we could till she got better.
2. (collective) All females collectively; womankind.
• 1910, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price Chapter 1, “… 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.”
• 1997, Bob Grant, Let's Be Heard, page 42:For if modern woman is so intent on keeping her surname alive, why not demand it be passed along to her children?
• 2011, Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity: Staying In, page 109:Unsurprisingly, if modern man is a sort of camera, modern woman is a picture.
3. A wife (or sometimes a fiancée or girlfriend).
• 1914, D. H. Lawrence, Study of Thomas Hardy and Other Essays, chapter 7: "Of Being and Not-Being":And then, when he lies with his woman, the man may concurrently be with God, and so get increase of his soul.
4. A female who is extremely fond of or devoted to a specified type of thing. Used as the last element of a compound.
• 2004, Hyveth Williams, Secrets of a Happy Heart: A Fresh Look at the Sermon on the Mount, page 70:Perhaps my problem is that I am a cat woman. I can't imagine any finicky feline (and they all are that at one time or another) slobbering over anyone, even a beloved owner, the way a dog does.
5. A female attendant or servant.
• William Shakespeare:By her woman I sent your message.

Synonyms

• see
• female
• lady

Antonyms

• (age): girl
• (gender): man

Derived terms

Verb

1. To staff with female labor.
• 1956, Rex Stout, Three Witnesses, The Viking Press, page 54Apparently the Sixty-ninth Street office of Bagby Answers, Inc., was being womaned for the day from other offices.
• 1990, Stephen King, The stand: the complete & uncut editionGus Dinsmore, the public beach parking lot attendent, said he guessed that so many cars must be just stopped dead along the road that even those manned (or womaned) by able drivers would be unable to move.
• 2010, Julia Glass, The Widower's Tale, page 77The information desk is now manned (womaned) by someone whose main job is to help you reserve time slots for the computers or guide you through the arduous process of “logging on.”
2. (transitive) To make effeminate or womanish.
• 1598, William Shakespeare, , III. ii. 50:I have felt so many quirks of joy and grief
  That the first face of neither on the start
  Can woman me unto't.
3. (transitive) To furnish with, or unite to, a woman.
• 1603, William Shakespeare, , III. iv. 191:And think it no addition, nor my wish,
  To have him see me woman'd.