# woman

Pronunciation: say "WUUM-uhn" /ˈwʊm.ən/

## Noun

1. An adult female human being; in fiction, also an adult female of any human-like being, such as an elf or alien.
   - Simple: An adult female person.
   - _A woman in a red coat stopped to ask for directions._
   - _The women in the choir rehearsed late into the night._
2. Female humans considered collectively; womankind.
   - Simple: All female people thought of as one big group.
   - _The exhibit traced how woman has been portrayed in art across the centuries._
   - _He spoke of woman as the foundation of every society._
3. One's wife, or occasionally one's fiancée or girlfriend. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: Someone's wife, or sometimes their girlfriend or the woman they plan to marry.
   - _He proudly introduced his woman to all his coworkers at the dinner._
   - _My woman and I are saving up for a house of our own._
4. Used at the end of a compound to identify a woman with a great love of the thing named before it.
   - Simple: A female who loves a certain thing very much, named as the last part of a compound.
   - _She's a cat woman through and through, with four rescued cats asleep on her sofa._
   - _She's a shoe woman, with forty pairs in her closet._

## Verb

6. To address someone as "woman" in a disrespectful or contemptuous manner.
   - Simple: To address a person as "woman" in a rude, disrespectful way.
7. To staff a place or task with female labor.
   - Simple: To fill a job or place with female workers.
   - _The all-female crew liked to boast that they could woman the boat better than any men had ever manned it._
   - _The cannery womaned its packing lines throughout the harvest season._

## Noun

5. A female servant or personal attendant. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A female servant or helper who works for someone.
   - _The duchess traveled with her woman and two footmen._
   - _Lady Margaret rang for her woman to help her out of the heavy gown._

## Verb

8. To make someone effeminate or womanish. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make a man act or seem soft and unmanly.
9. To furnish someone with, or unite them to, a woman. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To give a man a woman as his companion or partner.

## Origin

From Middle English womman, from earlier wifman, from Old English wīfmann, literally "female person": a compound of wīf ("woman, female," the source of English wife) and mann ("person, human being," the source of English man).

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/woman (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).