n.
(pl. women)
- an adult human female.
- a female worker or employee.
▸a female domestic help.
- a wife or lover.
Phrase
- the little woman
a condescending way of referring to one's wife. - woman of letters
a female scholar or author. - woman of the streets
euphemistic, dated a prostitute. - woman to woman
in a direct and frank way between two women.
Derivative
- womanless adj.
- womanlike adj.
- womanliness n.
- womanly adj.
Etymology
OE wīfmon, -man (see wife, man), a formation peculiar to Engl., the ancient word being wife.
