women
- 1Plural of woman.
Three women started the company in a small garage.
The women in the choir rehearse every Thursday evening.
Note
The plural carries its history in plain sight. Old English wīfmenn was wīf, "female", plus menn, "men, persons", so women is literally wife and men fused into one word. Middle English wrote it wimmen, and the o was later borrowed back from the singular. Before another noun it can stay plural, as in T. F. Cameron's 1942 account of "women clerks" recruited for railway work.
women is a form of woman
woman, noun: An adult female human being; in fiction, also an adult female of any human-like being, such as an elf or alien. Full entry
- Forms
- womanwomen plural
- Spelling
- woman → women: irregular plural (no -s)
Use it in a sentence
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Origin
The plural of "woman," from Middle English "wimmen," from Old English "wīfmenn," formed from "wīf" (female) plus "menn" (men, persons, human beings): equivalent to "wife" + "men." The spelling with "o" was influenced by the singular form.