spokesman

Etymology

It is an irregular compound from English spoke (“spoken”) + man (“man”):^[2][3][4] spoke, an old past participle of speak, was used in place of the verb itself.^[5][2][6] The -s- may be the possessive ending,^[7][8] or the word may have been formed on the pattern of craftsman and similar words;^[2][3][9] Skeat compares huntsman and sportsman.^[5] Middle English had an earlier compound spekeman (“spokesman”), recorded before 1325 and as a surname from the late 12th century.^[10][6][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

An interpreter: 1519, in William Horman's Vulgaria; this sense is rare and was obsolete after 1561.^[2][12][3]

Semantic evolution

The lasting sense, a person who speaks for or on behalf of others, is recorded from before 1540;^[2][3] Shakespeare used it in The Two Gentlemen of Verona,^[5][13] and the Bible of 1611 has God tell Moses that Aaron "shall be thy spokesman unto the people".^[13] Johnson (1755) defined the word simply as "one who speaks for another".^[13] In later use it came to mean especially someone chosen to put forward the views of a body, party or organization.^[2] From 1663 it could also mean a public speaker, especially one addressing an assembly,^[2][12] and later, from 1828, in Carlyle, the chief representative or voice of a movement or period.^[2] Spokeswoman is recorded from 1654,^[3] and spokesperson, coined in American English to avoid naming the speaker's sex, from 1972.^[3][6]

Timeline

• late 12th century – the earlier Middle English spekeman, as a surname.^[6]
• 1519 – an interpreter (obsolete).^[2][3]
• a1540 – one who speaks on behalf of others.^[2]
• 1607 – the speaker or chairman of a body (obsolete).^[2]
• 1654 – spokeswoman.^[3]
• 1663 – a public speaker.^[2]
• 1828 – the chief representative of a movement or period.^[2]
• 1972 – spokesperson.^[3][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person, especially a man, who speaks on behalf of a government, company or other group, and puts its views to the public: A police spokesman confirmed the arrest.
2. A leading advocate or voice of a movement, cause or generation.

Word family

• spokesmanship

Related words

• speak
• speech
• spokeswoman
• spokesperson

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
11. ^ Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
13. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.