man

Everyday

1. A man is a grown-up male person. tree →
2. Man can mean people in general (old use): «Man has walked on the Moon.» tree →
3. To man something is to work at it or be in charge of it: man the desk. tree →
4. In games, a man is a piece: a chess man. tree →

In the lessons

In maths a man is a person in the story; men are counted in groups (men and women add to make people) or work at a rate. In everyday life: «Ladies and gentlemen», a snowman, a postman, a fireman (now often firefighter). In stories men are characters: the old man, a wise man.

Examples

• A man buys 3 shirts. tree →
• 5 men can paint a house in 4 days. tree →
• There are 12 men and 15 women. tree →
• How many people in all? tree →
• The man at the shop gave me my change. tree →
• My dad is a tall man with a beard. tree →
• We built a snowman in the garden. tree →
• Two men manned the lifeboat. tree →
• The old man fed the ducks every morning. tree →
• THE SHIPWRECKED MAN AND THE SEA tree →

Note

Irregular plural: «men» (one man, two men; not «mans»). «Mankind» means all people; many now say «people» or «humankind». Many job words now avoid «-man»: firefighter, police officer, mail carrier. Maths: groups of men and women add. Trap: «men working together» may need rates, not simple adding.

In Jewish tradition

It can mean a male, a person, or all people, as the first human in Genesis.

Interpretation. Tradition sees the first human as made in God's image, and calls each person a world.

Examples

• or a man that is broken-footed, or broken-handed, (Torah LEV.21.19, JPS 1917) tree →
• And the man asked him, saying: 'What seekest thou?' (Torah GEN.37.15, JPS 1917) tree →
• neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause. (Torah EXO.23.3, JPS 1917) tree →
• These are the men of Recah. (Writings 1CH.4.12, JPS 1917) tree →
• These things did the three mighty men. (Prophets 2SA.23.17, JPS 1917) tree →
• The men of Netophah, fifty and six. (Writings EZR.2.22, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Irregular plural: «men» (one man, two men; not «mans»). «Mankind» means all people; many now say «people» or «humankind». Many job words now avoid «-man»: firefighter, police officer, mail carrier. Maths: groups of men and women add. Trap: «men working together» may need rates, not simple adding.