men
Translingual
English
Etymology
From Middle English men, from Old English menn (“people”), from Proto-Germanic *manniz, nominative plural of Proto-Germanic *mann- (“person”). Cognate with German Männer (“men”), Danish mænd (“men”), Swedish män (“men”). More at man.
Pronunciation

- IPA(key): /mɛn/,
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛn
- (pin–pen merger) IPA(key): /mɪn/
- Rhymes: -ɪn
- Homophone: min
Noun
men
- plural of man
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314:
- This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. […] Indeed, all his features were in large mold, like the man himself, as though he had come from a day when skin garments made the proper garb of men.
-
Noun
men pl (plural only)
- (collective) (The) people, humanity, man(kind).
- 1776, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America:
- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
-
- (collective, military) enlisted personnel (as opposed to commissioned officers).
- "Muster up the men in the barracks at 0600," the lieutenant said to his sergeant.
Quotations
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:men.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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Basque
Chuukese
Crimean Tatar
Etymology
From Proto-Turkic *ben (“I”). Compare Turkish ben (“I”).
Danish
Etymology 1
From Old Norse mein, from Proto-Germanic *mainą (“damage, hurt, injustice, sin”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /meːn/, [meːˀn]
Noun
men or mén n or c (singular definite menet or menen, plural indefinite men, plural definite menene)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɛn/, [men]
Dutch
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɛn/, /mə(n)/
- Hyphenation: men
- Rhymes: -ɛn, -ən
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch men, an unstressed variety of man (“man”). Accordingly, originally pronounced with [ə]; now predominantly with a full vowel [ɛ], especially in those areas where the word is chiefly literary. Compare German man, Middle English men (indefinite pronoun).
Pronoun
men
Usage notes
- When not used as a subject, men must be replaced with je (“you”) or sometimes ze (“them”).
- The word as such is very common in Limburg and some other areas, where it is part of the local dialects. Elsewhere it is not downright rare but perceived as formal and predominantly replaced with je and ze even as a subject (similarly to English one).
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Faroese
Etymology 1
See møna
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [meːn] (noun)
- IPA(key): [mɛnː] (conjunction)
- Homophone: menn
Declension
Declension of men | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
f2 | singular | plural | ||
indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
nominative | men | menin | menir | menirnar |
accusative | men | menina | menir | menirnar |
dative | men | menini | menum | menunum |
genitive | menar | menarinnar | mena | menanna |
f6 | Singular | Plural | ||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | men | menin | menar | menarnar |
Accusative | men | menina | menar | menarnar |
Dative | men | menini | menum | menunum |
Genitive | menar | menarinnar | mena | menanna |
Synonyms
- (common) møna
Fula
Usage notes
- Used in Pular.
Dialectal variants
- min (Pulaar, Adamawa, Dageeja, Fouta-toro, Liptaako, Sokoto, Zaria, Gombe)
References
- Oumar Bah, Dictionnaire Pular-Français, Avec un index français-pular, Webonary.org, SIL International, 2014.
- Ritsuko Miyamoto (1993), “A Study of Fula Dialects : Examining the Continuous/Stative Constructions”, in Senri Ethnological Studies, volume 35, DOI:, pages 215-230
Icelandic
Etymology
From Old Norse men, from Proto-Germanic *manją. Compare Old English mene.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmɛːn/
- Rhymes: -ɛːn
Declension
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmen/
- Rhymes: -en
- Hyphenation: mén
Contraction
men
- (literary, archaic) Contraction of me ne.
- 1723, Anton Maria Salvini, transl., Iliade [Iliad], Milan: Giovanni Gaetano Tartini, Santi Franchi, translation of Ἰλιάς (Iliás) by Homer, Book I, page 9:
- Men vo alle navi, appo aver fatte in guerra ¶ ben gravi, e dure, e faticose imprese
- I return to the ships, after grave, hard and laborious war endeavours
-
Macaguán
References
- Edgar Buenaventura, Observaciones preliminares acerca del idioma macaguán: Apuntes culturales, fonología, apuntes gramaticales, vocabulário macaguán – español (1993)
Mandarin
Usage notes
- English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.
Middle Dutch
Etymology
An unstressed variety of man.
Inflection
This pronoun needs an inflection-table template.
Further reading
- “men”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
- Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “men (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I
Middle English
Etymology 2
From Old English menn, plural of mann, from Proto-Germanic *manniz, plural of *mann-.
Mòcheno
Etymology
An unstressed pronunciation of mònn (“man”). Compare German man, Dutch men for a similar construct.
References
- “men” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɛnː/
- Homophone: menn
Conjunction
men
Etymology 2
From men.
Old Norse
Etymology
From Proto-Germanic *manją. Cognate with Old English mene.
Declension
Derived terms
- Brísingamen
- menglǫtuðr (“ring-destroyer; kenning for a wealthy ruler”)
Pohnpeian
Salar
Etymology
From Proto-Turkic *ben.
Declension
See also
References
- Tenishev, Edhem (1976), “men”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow, page 224
- 林 (Lin), 莲云 (Lianyun) (1985), “men”, in 撒拉语简志 [A Brief History of Salar], Beijing: 民族出版社: 琴書店, OCLC 17467570, page 53
- 马伟 (Ma Wei), 朝克 (Chao Ke) (2014), “men”, in 撒拉语366条会话读本 [Salar 366 Conversation Reader], 1st edition, 社会科学文献出版社 (Social Science Literature Press), →ISBN, page 111
- Ma, Chengjun; Han, Lianye; Ma, Weisheng (December 2010), “men”, in 米娜瓦尔 艾比布拉 (Minavar Abibra), editor, 撒维汉词典 (Sāwéihàncídiǎn) [Salar-Uyghur-Chinese dictionary], 1st edition, Beijing, →ISBN, page 180
- 张, 进锋 (Ayso Cañ Cinfen) (2008), 乌璐别格 (Ulubeğ), 鄭初陽 (Çuyañ Yebey oğlı Ceñ), editors, Salar İbret Sözler 撒拉尔谚语 [Salar Proverbs], China Salar Youth League, page 43
Sherbro
Sumerian
Swedish
Etymology 1
From Old Swedish men, from Middle Low German men, man (“but, only”), probably from Old Saxon niwan; possibly under the influence of Old Swedish men (“while, during”) (modern Swedish medan, medans, mens). Cognate with modern Low German man.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɛn/
audio (file)
Conjunction
men
Etymology 2
From Old Norse mein, cognate with Icelandic mein, Norwegian mein, Old Saxon mēn, Old English mān; cognate with Icelandic meinn (“which causes injury”), Old English mǣne (“evil, deceptive”, adj), Lithuanian maĭnas (“change”, noun), Proto-Slavic *měna (“change”, noun); from the Proto-Indo-European root *mei- (“to switch”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /meːn/
Noun
men n
Declension
Declension of men | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | men | menet | men | menen |
Genitive | mens | menets | mens | menens |
Related terms
Turkmen
Etymology
From Proto-Turkic *ben (“I”). Compare Turkish ben (“I”).
Declension
See also
Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | Dative | Locative | Ablative | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | 1st person | men | meni | meniň | maňa | mende | menden |
2nd person | sen | seni | seniň | saňa | sende | senden | |
3rd person | ol | ony | onuň | oňa | onda | ondan | |
plural | 1st person | biz | bizi | biziň | bize | bizde | bizden |
2nd person | siz | sizi | siziň | size | sizde | sizden | |
3rd person | olar | olary | olaryň | olara | olarda | olardan |
Uyghur
Uzbek
Other scripts | |
---|---|
Cyrillic | мен (men) |
Latin | men |
Perso-Arabic |
Etymology
From Proto-Turkic *ben (“I”).
Declension
my | singular | plural |
---|---|---|
nominative | menim | menlarim |
genitive | menimning | menlarimning |
dative | menimga | menlarimga |
definite accusative | menimni | menlarimni |
locative | menimda | menlarimda |
ablative | menimdan | menlarimdan |
your | singular | plural |
nominative | mening | menlaring |
genitive | meningning | menlaringning |
dative | meningga | menlaringga |
definite accusative | meningni | menlaringni |
locative | meningda | menlaringda |
ablative | meningdan | menlaringdan |
her/his/its | singular | plural |
nominative | meni | menlari |
genitive | menining | menlarining |
dative | meniga | menlariga |
definite accusative | menini | menlarini |
locative | menida | menlarida |
ablative | menidan | menlaridan |
our | singular | plural |
nominative | menimiz | menlarimiz |
genitive | menimizning | menlarimizning |
dative | menimizga | menlarimizga |
definite accusative | menimizni | menlarimizni |
locative | menimizda | menlarimizda |
ablative | menimizdan | menlarimizdan |
your | singular | plural |
nominative | meningiz | menlaringiz |
genitive | meningizning | menlaringizning |
dative | meningizga | menlaringizga |
definite accusative | meningizni | menlaringizni |
locative | meningizda | menlaringizda |
ablative | meningizdan | menlaringizdan |
their | singular | plural |
nominative | meni | menlari |
genitive | menining | menlarining |
dative | meniga | menlariga |
definite accusative | menini | menlarini |
locative | menida | menlarida |
ablative | menidan | menlaridan |
See also
Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | Dative | Locative | Ablative | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | 1st person | men | meni | mening | menga | menda | mendan |
2nd person | sen | seni | sening | senga | senda | sendan | |
3rd person | u | uni | uning | unga | unda | undan | |
plural | 1st person | biz | bizni | bizning | bizga | bizda | bizdan |
2nd person | siz | sizni | sizning | sizga | sizda | sizdan | |
3rd person | ular | ularni | ularning | ularga | ularda | ulardan |
Vietnamese
Pronunciation
- (Hà Nội) IPA(key): [mɛn˧˧]
- (Huế) IPA(key): [mɛŋ˧˧]
- (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA(key): [mɛŋ˧˧]
Etymology 1
From Proto-Vietic *-mɛːn.
Noun
men • (𥽔, 𥾃)
- yeast
- (biochemistry) enzyme
- alcohol (in terms of its euphorigenic or intoxicating effects)
Derived terms
- men theo
- mon men
Volapük
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /men/
Declension
Wutunhua
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [mə̃]
References
- Juha Janhunen, Marja Peltomaa, Erika Sandman, Xiawu Dongzhou (2008) Wutun (LINCOM's Descriptive Grammar Series), volume 466, LINCOM Europa, →ISBN
- Erika Sandman (2016) A Grammar of Wutun, University of Helsinki (PhD), →ISBN