men

See also: Appendix:Variations of "men"

Languages (39)

Translingual • English

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Basque • Chuukese • Cornish • Crimean Tatar • Danish • Dutch • Faroese • Fula • Haitian Creole • Icelandic • Italian • Japanese • Kazakh • Louisiana Creole • Macaguán • Mandarin • Middle Dutch • Middle English • Mòcheno • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old Irish • Old Norse • Pohnpeian • Salar • Sherbro • Spanish • Sumerian • Swedish • Turkish • Turkmen • Uyghur • Uzbek • Vietnamese • Volapük • Welsh • Wutunhua

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Page categories

Translingual

Etymology

Clipping of English Mende.

Symbol

men

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Mende.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Mende terms

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

English Wikipedia has an article on:

men

Wikipedia

1. plural of man
   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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)

1. (collective, dated, fantasy) (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.

2. (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

• antimen
• formenism
• man among men
• menfolk
• menfolks
• meninism
• meninist
• menkind
• menless
• menstealer
• menswear
• Menver
• merby
• smartman
• three-men-in-a-boat

Related terms

• mennish

Translations

human people

Arabic: نَاس m pl (nās) Catalan: homes (ca) m pl Chinese: Mandarin: 人們 / 人们 (zh) (rénmen), 人 (zh) (rén) Czech: lidé (cs) m pl Dutch: mensen (nl) m pl, men (collective singular) Esperanto: homoj (eo) Estonian: inimesed (et) pl, rahvas (et) French: gens (fr) m pl, hommes (fr) m pl, on (fr) German: Menschen (de) m pl, Leute (de) m pl Greek: άνθρωπος (el) m (ánthropos) Hindi: लोग (hi) pl (log) Italian: genti (it) m pl Japanese: 人々 (ja) (ひとびと, hitobito) Korean: 사람들 (saramdeul) Latin: homines m pl Macedonian: луѓе (luǵe) Maricopa: 'iipash Occitan: òmes (oc) m pl, òmis m pl Polish: ludzie (pl) m pers pl Portuguese: homens (pt) m pl Romanian: oameni (ro) m pl Russian: лю́ди (ru) m pl (ljúdi) Slovak: ľudia (sk) m pl Somali: rag Swahili: wabinadamu Urdu: لوگ pl (log) Uzbek: kishilar

Basque

Noun

men

1. A command

Chuukese

Adverb

men

1. softer form of fakkun (“very”)

Cornish

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic *maɣɨn, from Proto-Celtic *maginos. Cognate with Welsh maen.

Noun

men m (plural meyn)

1. stone

Usage notes

• This word mutates irregularly to veyn in the plural after the definite article. It shares this behaviour with margh (“horse”) and no other word.

Derived terms

• men bedh (“gravestone, tombstone”)
• men bras (“megalith”)
• men du (“jet (stone)”)
• men growan (“granite”)
• men kov (“monument”)
• men kowas (“meteorite”)
• men melin (“millstone”)
• men paper gwelsigow (“rock paper scissors”)
• men-pobas (“griddle”)

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Possibly from Etymology 1.”)

Adjective

men

1. eager
2. fluent
3. outspoken
4. vigorous

Derived terms

• tooth men (“fast”)

Mutation

Mutation of men

unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed	mixed after 'th
men	ven	unchanged	unchanged	fen	ven

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Cornish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Crimean Tatar

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *ben (“I”). Compare Turkish ben (“I”).

Pronoun

men

1. I

Declension

Declension of Crimean Tatar personal pronouns

	singular				plural
	1st person	2nd person	3rd person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
nominative	men	sen	o		biz	siz	olar
accusative	meni	seni	onı		bizni	sizni	olarnı
dative	maña	saña	oña		bizge	sizge	olarǧa
locative	mende	sende	onda		bizde	sizde	olarda
ablative	menden	senden	ondan		bizden	sizden	olardan
genitive	menim	seniñ	onıñ		bizim	siziñ	olarnıñ

Derived terms

• mence

References

• “men”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

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)

1. injury

Etymology 2

Same origin as Old Norse meðan (“while”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛn/, [men]

Conjunction

men

1. but
2. (as a noun) but, catch, hitch, snag

   Jeg kan høre, der er et men.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛn/, /mə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• 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], a spelling pronunciation common especially in those areas where the word is chiefly literary. Compare German man, Low German men, Middle English men (indefinite pronoun).

Pronoun

men

1. (indefinite, subject) one, you, they, everyone; humanity, (the) people, the public opinion

   Men zegt dat... ― People say that.... It is said that...

   Men weet nooit wat er gaat gebeuren. ― You never know what’s going to happen.

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).

Related terms

• iemand
• niemand

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

men

1. inflection of mennen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Faroese

Etymology 1

See møna

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [meːn] (noun)
• IPA^(key): [mɛnː] (conjunction)

  Homophone: menn

Noun

men f (genitive singular menar, plural menir or menar)

1. (rare, Mykines) The spinal cord

Declension

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

Etymology 2

From Danish men derived from Old Norse meðan (“while”).

Conjunction

men

1. but

Fula

Pronoun

men

1. first person plural exclusive;short form we, us

Usage notes

• Used in Pular.

Dialectal variants

• min (Pulaar, Adamawa, Dageeja, Fouta-toro, Liptaako, Sokoto, Zaria, Gombe)

See also

• enen
• menen
• meɗen
• hiɗen

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

Haitian Creole

Etymology 1

From French main (“hand”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛ̃/

Noun

men

1. hand

Etymology 2

From French mais (“but”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛ̃/

Conjunction

men

1. but

Icelandic

Etymology

From Old Norse men, from Proto-Germanic *manją. Compare Old English mene.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛːn/
• Rhymes: -ɛːn

Noun

men n (genitive singular mens, nominative plural men)

1. necklace, especially one with a pendant

Declension

Declension of men (neuter)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	men	menið	men	menin
accusative	men	menið	men	menin
dative	meni	meninu	menum	menunum
genitive	mens	mensins	mena	menanna

Derived terms

• hálsmen (“pendant necklace”)

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmen/
• Rhymes: -en
• Hyphenation: mén

Adverb

men (apocopated)

1. apocopic form of meno

Contraction

men

1. (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

Japanese

Romanization

men

1. Rōmaji transcription of めん

Kazakh

Alternative scripts

Arabic	مەن
Cyrillic	мен
Latin	men

Pronoun

men

1. Latin spelling of мен (men, “I”)

Conjunction

men

1. Latin spelling of мен (men, “and”)

Louisiana Creole

Etymology

From French main (“hand”).

Noun

men

1. hand

Macaguán

Noun

men

1. water
2. river

References

• Edgar Buenaventura, Observaciones preliminares acerca del idioma macaguán: Apuntes culturales, fonología, apuntes gramaticales, vocabulário macaguán – español (1993)

Mandarin

Romanization

men (men⁵ / men⁰, Zhuyin ˙ㄇㄣ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 們 / 们

Romanization

men

1. nonstandard spelling of mēn
2. nonstandard spelling of mén
3. nonstandard spelling of mèn
4. nonstandard spelling of mê̄n

Usage notes

• 《汉语拼音方案》 (Scheme for the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet) defines a standard pronunciation for each letter in Hanyu Pinyin with Zhuyin. ㄝ (/⁠ɛ⁠/) typically only occurs in syllables with an initial glide (e.g. ㄧㄝ (-ie /⁠i̯ɛ⁠/)), where it is romanized as e. When it occurs in syllables without an initial glide, however, it is romanized as ê in order to distinguish it from ㄜ (-e /⁠ɤ⁠/). Such instances are rare, and are only found in interjections or neologisms.
• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle Dutch

Etymology

An unstressed variety of man.

Pronoun

men

1. someone
2. one, they, you, people; impersonal pronoun.

Inflection

This pronoun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: men
• Limburgish: me

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 1

Pronoun

men

1. alternative form of man (“one, you”)

Etymology 2

From Old English menn, plural of mann, from Proto-Germanic *manniz, plural of *mann-.

Noun

men

1. plural of man (“man”)

Mòcheno

Etymology

An unstressed pronunciation of mònn (“man”). Compare German man, Dutch men for a similar construct.

Pronoun

men

1. one, you (indefinite pronoun)

   Bou mu men parkiarn? ― Where can you park?

References

• “men” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Via Swedish and Danish men, same origin as Old Norse meðan (“while”).

Conjunction

men

1. But, however; introducing a clause that contrasts with the preceding clause, sentence or common belief.
2. though
3. only

   Han er en fin kar, men han snakker litt for mye. – He is a nice guy, but he talks a bit too much.

Etymology 2

From Old Norse mein.

Alternative forms

• mein

Noun

men

1. damage; injury (also mén)
2. permanent disability
3. difficulty; drawback

Etymology 3

Verb

men

1. imperative of mene

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛnː/
• Homophone: menn

Etymology 1

Via Swedish and Danish men, same origin as Old Norse meðan (“while”).

Conjunction

men

1. but, however; introducing a clause that contrasts with the preceding clause, sentence or common belief.
2. though
3. only

Etymology 2

From men.

Noun

men n (definite singular menet, uncountable)

1. difficulty

References

• “men” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *menā, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *menH- (“to trample, tread”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmʲen/

Noun

men f (genitive mine)

1. flour, meal

Declension

Feminine ā-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	menL	—	—
vocative	menL	—	—
accusative	minN	—	—
genitive	mineH	—	—
dative	minL	—	—

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

• ^H = triggers aspiration
• ^L = triggers lenition
• ^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: min (from the dative/accusative)
  • Irish: min
  • Manx: meinn
  • Scottish Gaelic: min

Mutation

Mutation of men

radical	lenition	nasalization
men also mmen in h-prothesis environments	men pronounced with /β̃ʲ-/	men also mmen

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “men, min”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *manją. Cognate with Old English mene, Old Saxon meni (in halsmeni).

Noun

men n (genitive mens, plural men)

1. necklace

Declension

Declension of men (strong ja-stem)

neuter	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	men	menit	men	menin
accusative	men	menit	men	menin
dative	meni	meninu	menjum	menjunum
genitive	mens	mensins	menja	menjanna

Derived terms

• Brísingamen
• menglǫtuðr (“ring-destroyer; kenning for a wealthy ruler”)

Pohnpeian

Verb

men

1. to want

Salar

Etymology

From Proto-Turkic *ben.

Pronoun

men

1. First singular personal pronoun; I.

Declension

Declension of men

	singular	plural
nominative	men	piser
genitive	miniği	piserniği
dative	maña	pisere
definite accusative	mini	piserni
locative	mende	piserde
ablative	menden	piserden
instrumental	{{{13}}}	{{{14}}}

See also

Salar personal pronouns

	singular	plural
1st person	men	piser
2nd person	sen	seler
3rd person	u	ular

References

• Tenishev, Edhem (1976), “men”, in Stroj salárskovo jazyká [Grammar of Salar], Moscow, page 224
• 林莲云 [Lin Lianyun] (1985), “men”, in 撒拉语简志 [A Brief History of Salar]‎, Beijing: 民族出版社: 琴書店, →OCLC, 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]‎, 1^st 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] (in Chinese), 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

Noun

men (plural menti)

1. (chiefly in the plural) water

References

• James Frederick Schön, James Frederick Schön, Sherbro Vocabulary (1839), page 24

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmen/ [ˈmẽn]
• Rhymes: -en
• Syllabification: men

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English men.

Noun

men m pl

1. plural of man

Etymology 2

Noun

men m (plural men)

1. alternative form of man

Sumerian

Romanization

men

1. romanization of 𒃞 (men)

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

1. but; introducing a clause that contrasts with the preceding clause, sentence or common belief.
2. yet, but, however

   John har bott i staden i fem år, men aldrig besökt slottet.

   John has lived in the city for five years, yet never visited the castle.

Derived terms

• om och 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”, adjective), 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

1. a handicap, long-time remnant of a physical or mental injury, which affects a person negatively

Declension

Declension of men

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	men	mens
	definite	menet	menets
plural	indefinite	men	mens
	definite	menen	menens

Related terms

• menlös

See also

• lyte och men