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- woman (n.) "adult female human," late Old English wimman, wiman (plural wimmen), literally "woman-man," alteration of wifman (plural wifmen) "woman, female servant" (8c.), a compound of wif "woman" (see wife) + man "human being" (in Old English used in reference to both sexes; see man (n.)).
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Aug 8, 2022 · The meaning "woman chosen as an object of chivalrous love" is from early 14c. Used commonly as an address to any woman since 1890s. Applied since Old English to the Holy Virgin, hence many extended usages in plant names, place names, etc., from genitive singular hlæfdigan , which in Middle English merged with the nominative, so that lady ...
The word ‘woman’, etymologically speaking, is from two Old English words meaning ‘wife-man’. ‘Woman’, when it was first recorded in Anglo-Saxon writing, was rendered as either wīfmon or wīfman. However, although we may think we know what the words ‘wife’ and ‘man’ mean, neither of them meant quite the same thing over a ...
The word woman can be used generally, to mean any female human, or specifically, to mean an adult female human as contrasted with girl. The word girl originally meant "young person of either sex" in English; it was only around the beginning of the 16th century that it came to mean specifically a female child.
woman, n. meanings, etymology and more | Oxford English Dictionary. woman noun. Meaning & use. I. Senses referring to an adult female human being. I.1.a. Old English–. An adult female human being. The counterpart of man (see man n.1 II.4 .).
wom· an ˈwu̇-mən. especially Southern. ˈwō- or. ˈwə- plural women ˈwi-mən. Synonyms of woman. 1. a. : an adult female person. b. : a woman belonging to a particular category (as by birth, residence, membership, or occupation)usually used in combination. councilwoman. 2. : womankind. 3. : distinctively feminine nature : womanliness. 4.
Mar 3, 2020 · The early Old English (OE) wif – from the Proto-Germanic wibam, “woman” – originally denoted a female, and later became the Middle English (ME) wif, wiif, wyf. By 1175 it was starting to be...
The word “woman” is believed to have originated from the Old English term “wīfmann,” which literally meant “woman-person.” This compound word is made up of “wīf,” meaning “woman,” and “mann,” meaning “person” or “human.” Over time, the term “wīfmann” evolved into “wimman” and then “woman,” which is the modern-day version of the word.
