chairman

English

Etymology

From chair +‎ -man

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʃɛːmən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

chairman (plural chairmen)

1. A person presiding over a meeting.
2. The head of a corporate or governmental board of directors, a committee, or other formal entity.
3. (historical) Someone whose job is to carry people in a portable chair, sedan chair, or similar conveyance.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 618:

     Mr Western entered; but not before a small wrangling bout had passed between him and his chairmen; for the fellows, who had taken up their burden at the Hercules Pillars, had conceived no hopes of having any future good customer in the squire […]

   • 1836, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers:

     Mr. Winkle, catching sight of a lady's face at the window of the sedan, turned hastily round, plied the knocker with all his might and main, and called frantically upon the chairman to take the chair away again.

Usage notes

• Historically this term denoted a man, but it is now also used for women.

Coordinate terms

• chairwoman

Hypernyms

• chair, chairperson
• presiding officer, presider

Derived terms

• vice chairman, vice-chairman

Translations

person presiding over a meeting

• Arabic: رَئِيس m (raʔīs)
• Armenian: նախագահ (hy) (naxagah)
• Belarusian: старшыня́ m (staršynjá)
• Bulgarian: председа́тел m (predsedátel)
• Cebuano: tagsiya, tsirman
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 主席 (zyu² zik⁶) 議長／议长 (ji⁵ zoeng²)

  Dungan: җўщи (žwxi)

  Mandarin: 主席 (zh) (zhǔxí), 議長／议长 (zh) (yìzhǎng), 议长 (zh) (yìzhǎng)

• Czech: předseda (cs) m
• Danish: formand c
• Dutch: voorzitter (nl) m
• Finnish: puheenjohtaja (fi)
• French: secrétaire général (fr) (for a political party), président (fr) m
• German: Vorsitzender (de) m, Vorsitzende (de) f
• Greek: πρόεδρος (el) m or f (próedros)

  Ancient: ἐπιστάτης m (epistátēs), πρόεδρος m (próedros)

• Hebrew: יושב־ראש m (yoshev-rosh)
• Hungarian: elnök (hu)
• Interlingua: presidente, chairman
• Irish: cathaoirleach m, fear cathaoireach m
• Italian: presidente (it) m
• Japanese: 議長 (ja) (ぎちょう, gichō), 委員長 (ja) (いいんちょう, iinchō), 理事長 (りじちょう, rijicho)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 의장 (ko) (uijang), 위원장 (ko) (wiwonjang), 주석 (ko) (juseok)
• Lithuanian: pirmininkas m, pirmininkė f
• Macedonian: претседател m (pretsedatel)
• Maltese: ċermen
• Manx: ard-hoieder m
• Navajo: alą́ąjįʼ dahsidáhígíí
• Norwegian: styreformann

  Bokmål: møteleder m

• Polish: przewodniczący (pl) m pers
• Portuguese: presidente (pt) (da assembleia)
• Romanian: președinte (ro) m, chairman (ro) m
• Russian: председа́тель (ru) m (predsedátelʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: neach-na-cathrach m or f
• Sindhi: نِشِستمان (sd)
• Slovak: predseda m
• Spanish: presidente (es)
• Swahili: mwenyekiti (sw)
• Swedish: ordförande (sv) c
• Tagalog: tagapangulo
• Ukrainian: голова́ (uk) (holová)
• Vietnamese: chủ tịch (vi)

head of a corporate or governmental board

• Cebuano: tagsiya, tsirman
• Esperanto: prezidanto
• Greek: πρόεδρος (el) m or f (próedros)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: styreformann m or f

• Polish: prezes (pl) m pers
• Portuguese: presidente (pt) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Romanian: președinte (ro) m
• Russian: председа́тель (ru) m (predsedátelʹ)
• Spanish: presidente (es) m
• Swahili: mwenyekiti (sw)
• Swedish: ordförande (sv) c
• Tagalog: tagapangulo
• Ukrainian: голова́ (uk) (holová)

Verb

chairman (third-person singular simple present chairmans, present participle chairmanning, simple past and past participle chairmanned)

1. To serve as chairman.

Anagrams

• Charmian