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- 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.
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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 .
There are 17 meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun woman, two of which are labelled obsolete, and two of which are considered offensive and derogatory. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
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.
Aug 8, 2022 · As a word of familiar address, originally often implying impatience, c.1400; hence probably its use as an interjection of surprise or emphasis, since Middle English but especially popular from early 20c. As "a woman's lover," by mid-14c. As "adult male possessing manly qualities in an eminent degree," from 14c.
Nov 9, 2020 · Earlier this year, Oxford University Press changed its entry for “woman” in its dictionaries, including the Oxford English Dictionary, to include more positive ways to describe a female.
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.”
Sep 29, 2017 · The Collins English Dictionary defines the word “woman” as “an adult female human being.”. But this past August, a tempest began on Twitter when a user posted two responses written to ...
