woman English · revision 3618

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=before 766 (Old English wīfman)}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈwʊm.ən/, plural /ˈwɪm.ɪn/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|womman]] (earlier [[m|enm|wumman]]), [[inh|ang|wimman]] (plural [[m|ang|wimmen]]),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) an alteration, by assimilation of ''f'' to ''m'', of [[m|ang|wīfman]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) a compound, [[af|ang|wīf|man|t1=woman|t2=human being]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) The formation is peculiar to English,^(Barnhart 1988)^(COED 2004)^(Hoad 1986) though Etymonline compares [[nl|vrouwmens|t=wife]], literally “woman-man”.^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) It is related to [[wife]] and [[man]].^(COED 2004)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A woman; also a female servant: Old English ''wīfman'', before 766.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The older word for a woman was ''wīf'', which narrowed to [[wife]];^(Barnhart 1988)^(Cresswell 2021) ''wīfman'' replaced it and ''quean'' as the general word for a female person.^(Etymonline) The ''f'' was assimilated to ''m'' in late Old English, and ''wim-'' was rounded to ''wum-'' and ''wom-'' in the 13th century,^(Hoad 1986)^(Etymonline) under the influence of the ''w''.^(Etymonline) From about 1400 ''woman'' and ''women'' were the regular spellings, but in standard speech the singular took the vowel of ''wood'' and the plural kept the vowel of ''wit'', perhaps on the model of pairs like ''foot'' and ''feet''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) ''Womankind'' is from before 1325,^(Barnhart 1988) and ''womanhood'' and ''womanish'' from about 1385, in Chaucer;^(Barnhart 1988) Gower first used ''womanish'' in its scornful sense in 1393.^(Barnhart 1988) ''Womanize'' meant “to make effeminate” in the 16th century and “to chase women” from the 19th.^(Hoad 1986) ''A woman's work is never done'' goes back to 1570, and ''a woman's place is in the home'' to the early 19th century.^(Cresswell 2021) Some feminists of the 1970s and 1980s used ''womyn'' or ''wimmin'' to avoid the ''men'' of the plural.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 766 – Old English ''wīfman''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1000 – late Old English ''wimman''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1250 – the form ''woman''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1325 – ''womankind''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1385 – ''womanhood'' (Chaucer).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1400 – ''woman'' and ''women'' become the usual spellings.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1570 – ''a woman's work is never done''.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 1970s – ''womyn'', ''wimmin''.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An adult female human being.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Women as a group; [[womankind]].^(AHD)

+ # A woman of a particular group or occupation: ''a businesswoman''.^(AHD)

+ # Feminine quality; womanliness.^(AHD)

+ # ''(dated)'' A female servant.^(AHD)^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(informal)'' A wife, lover or girlfriend.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[womanless]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[wife]]

+ * [[man]]

+ * [[womanhood]]

+ * [[womankind]]

+ * [[women]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}