men

See also Appendix:Variations of "men"

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English menn (“men, people, human beings collectively”), plural of mann (“man”). Cognate with German Männer (“men”), Danish mænd (“men”), Swedish män (“men”). More at man.

Pronunciation

Wikipedia

• IPA: /mɛn/, X-SAMPA: /mEn/,

  Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛn

Noun

men

1. Plural form of man.
2. (collectively) (The) people, humanity

Quotations

• For usage examples of this term, see the citations page.

Related terms

• mennish

Translations

human people

• Arabic: ناس (ar) (naas) m pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 人們 (cmn), 人们 (cmn) (rénmen), 人 (cmn) (rén)

• Czech: lidé (cs) m pl
• Dutch: mensen m pl, men (collective singular)
• Esperanto: homoj (eo)
• French: gens (fr) m pl, hommes (fr) m pl, on (fr)
• German: Menschen (de) m pl, Leute (de) m pl
• Hindi: लोग (hi) (log) pl

• Italian: genti (it) m pl
• Japanese: 人々 (ja) (ひとびと, hitobito)
• Korean: 사람들 (ko) (saramdeul)
• Latin: homines (la) m pl
• Macedonian: луѓе (mk) (lúǵe)
• Polish: ludzie (pl) m pl
• Russian: люди (ru) (ljúdi) m pl
• Slovak: ľudia (sk) m pl
• Urdu: لوگ (ur) (log) pl

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: own · old · came · #107: men · come · without · make

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Basque

Noun

men

1. A command

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Crimean Tatar

Pronoun

men (plural biz; possessive adjective menim)

1. (personal) I (first-person singular)

Inflection

object	me: maña
reflexive	myself: özüm
possessive	mine, my: menim

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Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse mein, from Proto-Germanic *mainą (“damage, hurt, injustice, sin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /meːn/, [meːˀn]

Noun

men or mén n and c (singular definite menet or menen, plural indefinite men, plural definite menene)

1. injury

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɛn/, [mɛn]

Conjunction

men

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

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛn

Etymology 1

An unstressed variety of man.

Pronoun

men

1. (indefinite) One, they, (the) people; indefinite third-person singular pronoun: Men zegt dat... (People say that...; It is said that...)
2. All humanity, everyone; public opinion.

Related terms

• iemand
• niemand

Etymology 2

origin unclear

Verb

men

1. first-person singular present indicative of mennen
2. imperative of mennen

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Faroese

Pronunciation 1

• IPA: [meːn]

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

Pronunciation 2

• IPA: [mɛnː]

Conjunction

men

1. but

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Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French main (“hand”). 

Noun

men

1. hand

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Italian

Adverb

men

1. apocopic form of meno

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Japanese

Romanization

men

1. See めん

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Lojban

Rafsi

men

1. rafsi of menli.

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Mandarin

Romanization

men

1. See 們, 们

Romanization

men

1. Nonstandard spelling of mēn.
2. Nonstandard spelling of mén.
3. Nonstandard spelling of měn.
4. Nonstandard spelling of mèn.

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Chinese speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Chinese language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

Via Swedish and Danish men, from 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.

Noun

men

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

Alternative forms

• mein

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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

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Swedish

Etymology 1

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).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /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.

Etymology 2

Like Icelandic and Norwegian mein, Old Saxon mēn, Old English mān; cognate of Icelandic meinn ’which causes injury’ (adjective), Old English mĕn, mæ̆ne ’evil, deceptive’ (adjective), Lithuanian maĭnas ’change’ (noun), Proto-Slavic měna ’change’ (noun); from the Indo-European root mei- ’switch’ (verb).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /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

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

Related terms

• menlös

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Turkmen

Pronoun

men

1. (personal) I

Declension

    declension of men

	singular	plural
nominative	men	biz
accusative	meni	bizi
genitive	meniň	biziň
dative	maňa	bize
locative	mende	bizde
ablative	menden	bizden

See also

Turkmen personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st person		men	biz
2nd person	familiar	sen	siz
	polite	siz
3rd person		ol	olar