womanとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From Middle English woman, from earlier wimman, wifman. The pronunciation of the first vowel of the singular began to be altered in western England in the 13th century under the rounding influence of the w, though the pronunciation with /ɪ/ remained in use into the 15th century. Although the plural was sometimes also altered to /ʊ/ and wommen, beginning in the 14th century and continuing into early modern times, the original pronunciation ultimately won out (possibly under the influence of pairs like foot-feet), though the spelling had become women under the influence of the singular by the 15th century. (For a time in the 16th かつ 17th centuries, the pronunciation of the 単数形 sometimes drifted even further back towards /u/ かつ /oʊ/ かつ the 複数形 sometimes drifted even further forward towards /i/, leading to comparisons of the words to "woe man" または "we men".)^[1][2][3][4]

The Middle English forms are from 古期英語 wiman, wimman, from wīfmann m (“woman; female servant”, literally “female person”), a compound of wīf (“woman”, whence English wife) +‎ mann (“person”, whence English man).

Cognate with Scots woman, weman. Compare Saterland Frisian Wieuwmoanske (“female person; female human”). Similar constructions can be found in Dutch vrouwmens (“wife”, literally “woman-person”), West Frisian frommes (“woman, girl”) (from frou かつ minske, literally "woman human"), Dutch vrouwspersoon (“woman”), German Weibsperson (“female person”), and dialectal German Fraumensch (“woman”, literally “woman human”).

A few alternative spellings (see below) respell the term so as not to contain man.

発音

• (Received 発音, 米国発音) IPA^(key): /ˈwʊmən/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈwʊmɘn/
• ハイフネーション: wom‧an
• 韻: -ʊmən
• (General New Zealand, General South African) Homophone: women (some dialects)

名詞

woman (複数形 women)

1. An adult female human.
   • 1887, Helen Campbell, Prisoners of poverty: their trades and their lives, page 120:

     But this woman is a nice German woman that fell on the ice and sprained her ankle last winter, and we saw to her well as we could till she got better.

   • 1979, Muriel Lederer, Blue-collar jobs for women, page 59:

     During World War II, many women worked as blacksmiths in the shipbuilding industry and found they liked the challenging, independent work.

   • 2012, Kate Welsh, Substitute Daddy (→ISBN):

     "There is nothing wrong with Melissa or the way she was raised. She is a sweet, kind, intelligent woman with a generous heart and more love for her child than you and Mother ever showed for either of your children."

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:woman.
2. (collective) All females collectively; womankind.
   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 0029:

     “[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”

   • 1972, Helen Reddy, "I Am Woman," first line:

     I am Woman, hear me roar / In numbers too big to ignore

   • 1997, Bob Grant, Let's Be Heard, page 42:

     For if modern woman is so intent on keeping her surname alive, why not demand it be passed along to her children?

   • 2011, Eileen Gray and the Design of Sapphic Modernity: Staying In, page 109:

     Unsurprisingly, if modern man is a sort of camera, modern woman is a picture.

3. A female person, usually an adult; a (generally adult) female sentient being, whether human, supernatural, elf, alien, etc.
   • 2003, Amelia Jones, The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader, Psychology Press (→ISBN), page 37:

     To be born a woman has been to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men.

   • 2007, Clifford B. Bowyer, The Siege of Zoldex, Silver Leaf Books, LLC (→ISBN), page 307:

     One of the elves, a woman with long auburn hair, was garbed identically to the two dwarves.

   • 2008, Christopher Paolini, Brisingr: Or The Seven Promises of Eragon Shadeslayer and Saphira Bjartskular - Inheritance Book Three (→ISBN), page 549:

     Clearing a space between the tables, the men tested their prowess against one another with feats of wrestling and archery and bouts with quarterstaves. Two of the elves, a man and a woman, demonstrated their skill with swordplay— […]

   • 2012, Merlin Stone, When God Was A Woman:

     At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman.

   • 2014, Oisin McGann, Kings of the Realm: Cruel Salvation, Penguin UK (→ISBN):

     There was a pair of burly dwarves – a woman and a man – bearing the markings of the formidable Thane Guards.

4. A wife (または sometimes a fiancée または girlfriend).
   • 1914, D. H. Lawrence, Study of Thomas Hardy and Other Essays, chapter 7: "Of Being and Not-Being":

     And then, when he lies with his woman, the man may concurrently be with God, and so get increase of his soul.

5. A female who is extremely fond of or devoted to a specified type of thing. (Used as the last element of a compound.)
   • 2004, Hyveth Williams, Secrets of a Happy Heart: A Fresh Look at the Sermon on the Mount, page 70:

     Perhaps my problem is that I am a cat woman. I can't imagine any finicky feline (かつ they all are that at one time または another) slobbering over anyone, even a beloved owner, the way a dog does.

6. A female attendant or servant.
   • c. 1564–1616, William Shakespeare:

     By her woman I sent your message.

別の表記

• (feminist spellings; very まれに:) (単数形:) womyn, (複数形:) womyn, wymyn, womxn
• (eye 方言, sometimes also used as feminist spellings:) (単数形:) womon, wommon, (複数形:) wimmin, wimmen
• (廃れた用法, 17th c.) weoman

同意語

• lady; female (sometimes offensive); see more at Thesaurus:woman

上位語

• man (broad sense), human

下位語

等位語

• (gender): man
• (age): girl

派生語

関連する語

参照

• woman on Wikipedia.
• Woman (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.

動詞

woman (三人称単数 現在形 womans, 現在分詞 womaning, 過去形および過去分詞形 womaned)

1. To staff with female labor.
   • 1956, Rex Stout, Three Witnesses, The Viking Press, page 54

     Apparently the Sixty-ninth Street office of Bagby Answers, Inc., was being womaned for the day from other offices.

   • 1990, Stephen King, The stand: the complete & uncut edition:

     Gus Dinsmore, the public beach parking lot attendent, said he guessed that so many cars must be just stopped dead along the road that even those manned (または womaned) by able drivers would be unable to move.

   • 2010, Julia Glass, The Widower's Tale, page 77

     The information desk is now manned (womaned) by someone whose main job is to help you reserve time slots for the computers or guide you through the arduous process of “logging on.”

2. (transitive) To make effeminate or womanish.
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, III. ii. 50:

     I have felt so many quirks of joy and grief / That the first face of neither on the start / Can woman me unto't.

3. (transitive) To furnish with, or unite to, a woman.
   • 1603, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice, III. iv. 191:

     And think it no addition, nor my wish, / To have him see me woman'd.

4. (transitive) To call (a person) "woman" in a disrespectful fashion.

参考

参照

接尾辞

-woman (複数形 -women, masculine -man)

1. A woman who is an expert in an area.

   horsewoman, sportswoman

2. A woman who is employed or holds a position in an area.

   committeewoman, newswoman, policewoman

3. A woman who has special characteristics relating to a topic or area.

   bogeywoman, superwoman

4. In certain cases, a woman who derives from a particular nationality.

   Scotswoman, Norsewoman

使用する際の注意点

• To include people regardless of gender, either the suffix -person is used, or a gender-neutral hypernym, for example police officer instead of policewoman.

上位語

• -person

派生語