businessman

English

Etymology

From business +‎ -man. Displaced earlier merchant, ultimately from Latin mercāns (“merchant, buyer”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɪznəsmən/, /ˈbɪznɪsmən/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɪznəsmæn/, /ˈbɪznəsmən/

Noun

businessman (plural businessmen)

1. A man in business, one who works at a commercial institution.

   Synonym: (gender-neutral) businessperson

   • 2005, “Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)”, in Late Registration, performed by Kanye West ft. Jay-Z:

     I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man

   • 2012 March 23, Colm Kelpie, “Claim of 'whip-around' by friends rubbished”, in Irish Independent:

     BERTIE Ahern's explanation that he received an envelope stuffed with £8,000 in cash following a whip-around by a group of Manchester-based businessmen was branded untrue by the Mahon Tribunal.

   • 2017 September 30, Ross Douthat, “Speaking Ill of Hugh Hefner”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Needless to say the obituaries for Hefner, even if they acknowledge the seaminess, have been full of encomia for his great deeds: Hef the vanquisher of puritanism, Hef the political progressive, Hef the great businessman and all the rest.

Derived terms

• agribusinessman
• agrobusinessman
• businessmanlike
• businessman's LSD
• businessman's lunch
• businessman's risk
• businessman's special
• businessman's trip

Descendants

• → French: businessman
• → Irish: fear gnó (calque)
• → Macedonian: би́знисмен (bíznismen)
• → Polish: biznesmen
• → Romanian: businessman
• → Russian: бизнесме́н (biznɛsmén)
  • → Armenian: բիզնեսմեն (biznesmen)
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: бѝзнисмен

  Latin script: bìznismen

• → Slovak: biznismen

Translations

a man in business, one who works at a commercial institution

• Albanian: biznesmen m
• Arabic: رَجُل أَعْمَال (ar) m (rajul ʔaʕmāl), تَاجِر m (tājir)
• Armenian: գործարար (hy) (gorcarar), բիզնեսմեն (hy) (biznesmen)
• Azerbaijani: biznesmen
• Basque: enpresaburu (eu), enpresari (eu)
• Belarusian: бізнесме́н m (biznjesmjén), бізнэсмэ́н m (biznesmén), прадпрыма́льнік m (pradprymálʹnik)
• Bulgarian: би́знесмен m (bíznesmen)
• Burmese: စီးပွားရေးသမား (my) (ci:pwa:re:sa.ma:)
• Chechen: совдегар (sovdegar)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 商人 (soeng¹ jan⁴)

  Mandarin: 商人 (zh) (shāngrén)

• Czech: obchodník (cs) m, podnikatel (cs) m
• Danish: forretningsmand c
• Dutch: zakenman (nl) m
• Esperanto: aferisto
• Estonian: ärimees
• Finnish: liikemies (fi), bisnesmies (fi)
• French: homme d’affaires (fr) m
• Galician: empresario (gl) m, home de negocios m, negociante m or f
• Georgian: ბიზნესმენი (biznesmeni)
• German: Geschäftsmann (de) m, Unternehmer (de) m
• Greek: επιχειρηματίας (el) m or f (epicheirimatías)
• Hebrew: אִישׁ עַסָקִים m ('ish asakím)
• Hindi: व्यापारी (hi) m (vyāpārī), व्यवसायी (hi) m (vyavsāyī)
• Hungarian: üzletember (hu)
• Icelandic: kaupsýslumaður m
• Indonesian: pengusaha (id), usahawan (id) (male), usahawati (female)
• Interlingua: homine de affaires, homine de negotios, negotiante
• Irish: fear gnó m
• Italian: uomo d'affari (it) m, affarista (it) m
• Japanese: 実業家 (ja) (じつぎょうか, jitsugyōka), ビジネスマン (ja) (bijinesuman)
• Kazakh: бизнесмен (biznesmen)
• Khmer: ឈ្មួញ (km) (chmuəñ), តាយប៉ាន (taay paan), ថៅកែ (km) (thaw kae), ពាណិជ (km) (piənɨc), វោហារុបជីវី (km) (voohaarupaʼciivii)
• Kikuyu: muonjoria class 1
• Korean: 실업가(實業家) (ko) (sireopga), 비즈니스맨 (bijeuniseumaen)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: bazirgan (ku), karsaz (ku), ticar (ku), esnaf (ku), tacir (ku)

• Lao: ນັກທຸລະກິດ (nak thu la kit)
• Latin: negōtiātor m, negotians m or f
• Latvian: biznesmenis m, uzņēmējs m
• Lithuanian: verslininkas m
• Macedonian: стопа́нственик m (stopánstvenik), би́знисмен m (bíznismen)
• Malay: peniaga, ahli perniagaan
• Maori: kaipakihi
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: наймаач (mn) (najmaač), бизнесмен (mn) (biznesmen)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forretningsmann m

  Nynorsk: forretningsmann m

• Persian: تاجر (fa) (tâjer), بازرگان (fa) (bâzargân)
• Polish: biznesmen (pl) m, przedsiębiorca (pl) m, człowiek interesów m
• Portuguese: empresário (pt) m, homem de negócios (pt) m, negociante (pt) m or f
• Romanian: om de afaceri m, businessman (ro) m, afacerist (ro) m
• Russian: предпринима́тель (ru) m (predprinimátelʹ), бизнесме́н (ru) m (biznɛsmén), делово́й челове́к m (delovój čelovék)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бѝзнисмен m

  Roman: bìznismen (sh) m

• Slovak: obchodník m, podnikateľ m
• Slovene: poslovnež (sl) m
• Spanish: hombre de negocios m, empresario (es) m, negociante (es) m or f
• Swedish: affärsman (sv) c
• Tagalog: negosyante
• Tajik: соҳибкор (sohibkor), тоҷир (tojir), бозаргон (bozargon)
• Thai: นักธุรกิจ (nák-tú-rá-gìt)
• Tibetan: ཚོང་པ (tshong pa)
• Turkish: iş adamı (tr)
• Ukrainian: бізнесме́н (uk) m (biznesmén), підприє́мець m (pidpryjémecʹ)
• Uyghur: ئوقەتچى (oqetchi), تىجرەتچى (tijretchi)
• Uzbek: biznesmen (uz)
• Vietnamese: thương gia (vi), doanh nhân (vi)
• Volapük: büsidan (vo)
• Welsh: dyn busnes

See also

• entrepreneur

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English businessman.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biz.nɛs.mɛ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

businessman m (plural businessmen or businessmans, feminine businesswoman)

1. businessman

Further reading

• “businessman”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English businessman.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiz.nɛs.mɛn/, (colloquial) /bizˈnɛs.mɛn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iznɛsmɛn, -ɛsmɛn
• Syllabification: busi‧ness‧man

Noun

businessman m pers (female equivalent businesswoman)

1. (business) Alternative spelling of biznesmen

Declension

Declension of businessman

	singular	plural
nominative	businessman	businessmani/businessmany (deprecative)
genitive	businessmana	businessmanów
dative	businessmanowi	businessmanom
accusative	businessmana	businessmanów
instrumental	businessmanem	businessmanami
locative	businessmanie	businessmanach
vocative	businessmanie	businessmani

Further reading

• businessman in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• businessman in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English businessman.

Noun

businessman m (plural businessmeni)

1. businessman

Declension

Declension of businessman

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	businessman	businessmanul		businessmeni	businessmenii
genitive-dative	businessman	businessmanului		businessmeni	businessmenilor
vocative	businessmanule			businessmenilor