Man

A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent).

Etymology

The English term “man” is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *man- (see Sanskrit/Avestan manu-, Slavic mǫž “man, male”). More directly, the word derives from Old English mann. The Old English form primarily meant “person” or “human being” and referred to men, women, and children alike. The Old English word for “man” as distinct from “woman” or “child” was wer. Mann only came to mean “man” in Middle English, replacing wer, which survives today only in the compounds “werewolf” (from Old English werwulf, literally “man-wolf”), and “wergild”, literally “man-payment”.