Contionary:-män

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Cleepoyish

Etymology

From Old Cleepoyish -mæn, -mꜵn, from suffixed use of obsolete mꜵnn, mꜵnnoo, from Proto-Lesionic *mannō, from Proto-Germanic *mann-.

Pronunciation

  • (Standard Cleepoyish) IPA: /-mɛn/
  • (Old Cleepoyish) IPA: /-mæn/, /-mɒn/

Suffix

-män m or f (dative -mäni, feminine -män or -mänin)

  1. A suffix for deriving indefinite pronouns
    ål ("all") + -mänälmän ("anyone; everyone")
    nii ("not") + -männimän ("no one")
  2. A suffix for deriving some agent nouns mostly from nouns
    Synonym: -äär
    plågg ("clothing") + -mänpläggmän ("clothier, tailor")
    wůn ("car; carriage") + -mänwäinmän ("driver")
    smið ("smith (obsolete)") + -mänsmiðmän ("smith")
  3. A suffix for deriving epicene or unisex nouns
    friþil ("spouce (dated)") + -mänfriþmän ("spouce; partner")
    bojoo ("boy; younger brother") + -mänböjmän ("younger sibling")
    Danish hob ("crowd; common people") + -mänhų̈bmän ("common man; peasant")

Usage Notes

  • Words using this suffix are epicene by nature, though due to the lack of a specifically masculine derivation, they may inherently bias towards a masculine gender.
  • Grammatically, words using this suffix are predominantly masculine, even with a non-masculine referent. Nevertheless, both masculine and feminine grammatical genders are officially accepted.
  • A specifically feminine sense can be formed from either declining the noun as grammatically feminine, or by using the feminine suffix -mänin instead.

Inflection

Declension of -män (z-stem, i-substem)
Singular Plural
Nominative/Accusative -män -mäniz
Dative -mäni -mänom

Related Terms