spearman

See also: Spearman

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

English spear

Proto-Indo-European *mon-

Proto-Germanic *mann-

Proto-West Germanic *mann

Old English mann

Middle English man

Middle English -man

English -man

English spearman

From spear + -man.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

spearman (plural spearmen)

1. One who uses a spear; a soldier or warrior who fights with a spear; a person who hunts with a spear.
   • 1844, James Selkirk, Recollections of Ceylon, page 65:

     The second Adigar is only entitled to twenty-four spearmen and fifteen whipcrackers.

   • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 79:

     He spoke : the brawny spearman let his cheek Bulge with the unswallow'd piece, and turning stared;

   • 1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 75:

     All around here the spearmen would hide, armed with those terrible shovel-balded spears that will kill a bullock at seventy yards.

   • 1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 65:

     Then an old spearman will speak while they are drinking[.]

Derived terms

• spearmanship

Translations

soldier with spear

• Arabic: رَمَّاح (rammāḥ)
• Bulgarian: копиеносец m (kopienosec)
• Catalan: llancer m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 槍手 / 枪手 (zh) (qiāngshǒu)

• French: lancier (fr) m, piquier (fr) m
• Greek: λογχοφόρος (el) m (lonchofóros)

  Ancient Greek: αἰχμητής m (aikhmētḗs)

• Hungarian: dárdás (hu)
• Kalmyk: җидч (jidç)
• Persian: نیزه‌دار (neyze-dâr), سرباز نیزه‌دار (sarbâz-e neyze-dâr)
• Polish: włócznik m
• Romanian: sulițar (ro) m
• Swedish: spjutkastare (sv) c
• Telugu: ఈటెకాడు (te) (īṭekāḍu)
• Ukrainian: спи́сник m (spýsnyk), списобо́рець m (spysobórecʹ), списоно́сець m (spysonósecʹ)

Anagrams

• Parmesan, Pearmans, parmesan