workman

See also: Workman

English

Etymology

From Middle English werkman, from Old English weorcmann (“workman”), from Proto-West Germanic *werkamann, from Proto-Germanic *werkamann- (“workman”), equivalent to work +‎ -man. Compare Dutch werkman (“workman”), German Werkmann (“labourer, workman”), Icelandic verkamaður (“workman”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɝkmən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɜːkmən/
• Hyphenation: work‧man

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

workman (plural workmen)

1. A man who labours for wages.
   • 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Chester (1848)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 58:

     He laid the foundation stone on August 1 1847, and then set around 2,000 workmen loose on the undertaking. The station opened exactly one year later on August 1 1848.

2. An artisan or craftsman.

Derived terms

• a bad workman always blames his tools
• bye-workman
• workmanly

Related terms

• worker
• workwoman

Translations

a man who labours for wages

• Arabic: عَامِل m (ʕāmil)
• Bulgarian: работник (bg) m (rabotnik)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 工人 (zh) (gōngrén)

• Dutch: werkman (nl) m, werkmens (nl) m
• French: ouvrier (fr) m
• German: Arbeiter (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἐργάτης m (ergátēs)

• Hindi: मजदूर (hi) m (majdūr)
• Japanese: 労働者 (ja) (ろうどうしゃ, rōdōsha)
• Khmer: កម្មករ (km) (kamkɑɑ)
• Latin: operārius m
• Romanian: lucrător (ro) m, muncitor (ro) m
• Russian: рабо́чий (ru) m (rabóčij)
• Thai: กรรมกร (th) (gam-má-gɔɔn), คนงาน (th) (kon-ngaan)
• Tocharian B: kapyāre
• Vietnamese: thợ (vi), người thợ

artisan — see artisan

craftsman — see craftsman

References

• “workman”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.