# Origin of the word 'Woman'. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 17, 2002, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318 "2002-08-17T09:53:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/1 "2002-08-17T09:53:19Z")
My ever-so-darling, hip, and very cool daughter has just informed me of the origin of the word ‘Woman’. Two blokey Neanderthals who were strolling along a path came across a Very Well Endowed female-type. “Whoa-Man, did you see those?” I think it’s time I talked to some adults. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/2 "2002-08-17T10:14:10Z")
Why Neanderthals? Why not Cro-Magnons? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/3 "2002-08-17T10:20:09Z")
The truth is sometimes more bizarre than fiction. Chamber English Dictionary; the etymology of “woman” is Old English _wimman_, from _wifman_ (long “i”), from _wif_, a woman and _man_, a man or a human being. So “woman” is a version of “wife-man”. **The lecture** This explains why we pronounce “women” with an “i”, and it also explains the phrase “man and wife”; the word “wife” was used to mean “woman”, and still is in some places:o ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/4 "2002-08-17T10:30:39Z")
My dictionary of etymology theorises that the “i” sound difference between “woman” and “women” may have come from the influence of word pairs like “foot” and “feet”, **G. Odoreida**. Aside from that – this all looks like it’s about to become all GQish. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/5 "2005-02-17T20:45:36Z")
> [@G. Odoreida](#): > > The truth is sometimes more bizarre than fiction. > > Chamber English Dictionary; the etymology of “woman” is Old English _wimman_, from _wifman_ (long “i”), from _wif_, a woman and _man_, a man or a human being. > > So “woman” is a version of “wife-man”. > > **The lecture** This explains why we pronounce “women” with an “i”, and it also explains the phrase “man and wife”; the word “wife” was used to mean “woman”, and still is in some places:o Man did not originally mean a male human being, but just a human being. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/6 "2005-02-17T23:13:15Z")
I don’t have a cite at hand, but if I remember my Old English grad seminar correctly, \*\*man \*\* was generic, with \*\*werman \*\* for \*man \* and \*\*wifman \*\* for _woman_. The **wer-** in werman is also the **wer-** in _werewolf_. You know, a wolf-man. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/7 "2005-02-18T01:08:05Z")
> [@E. Thorp](#): > > I don’t have a cite at hand, but if I remember my Old English grad seminar correctly, \*\*man \*\* was generic, with \*\*werman \*\* for \*man \* and \*\*wifman \*\* for _woman_. > > The **wer-** in werman is also the **wer-** in _werewolf_. You know, a wolf-man. So then would a wolf-woman be a **wifwolf**? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/8 "2005-02-18T06:37:08Z")
German _Weib_ (meaning ‘woman’) is a cognate of English _wife_. So where did the word _wife_ originate? The question had baffled Indo-European etymologists for years. Since all the known cognates were found only in Germanic, it looked like one of those words that either got into Germanic from some unknown, unrecorded outside source, or was coined by proto-Germanic speakers after they had split from the rest of Indo-European, or else it died out in all other branches except Germanic. But now the Proto-Indo-European root of _wife_ has been found. The other language group that has cognates is Tocharian. The 4th edition of the _American Heritage Dictionary_ has this newly found etymology. _Wife_ is traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root \ ***ghwibh-** ‘shame, pudenda’. The notes on Indo-European roots there say: “Expressive root, found only in Tocharian (in the literal meaning) and Germanic. WIFE, HUSSY, from Old English _wif_, woman, from Germanic \*_wibam_, woman (with semantic weakening from the original meaning; for the semantics, compare the histories of _pudendum_ and _cunt_)… compare Tocharian B _kwipe_ and Tocharian A _kip_, female pudenda.” ---
**Author:** ![VampyChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5daacb/32.png) [@VampyChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VampyChick)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/9 "2005-02-18T06:41:12Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > So then would a wolf-woman be a **wifwolf**? No, a werwif. Which just sounds like I have a speech impediment. ---
**Author:** ![Keapon\_Laffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@Keapon\_Laffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keapon_Laffin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/10 "2005-02-18T06:42:27Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Two blokey Neanderthals who were strolling along a path came across a Very Well Endowed female-type. > > “Whoa-Man, did you see those?” Bwahahahaahaha… hehehehe… \*wipes tear from eye… Why isn’t anyone laughing? Am I the only one who got it? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/11 "2005-02-18T07:19:17Z")
I find it interesting that the word in English that has the deepest roots for the meaning “woman” is actually _queen_. It goes back to the same Indo-European root as the Greek word _gune_, as in _gynecology._ A variant is _quean_, an archaic word for “woman” which probably gave rise to “queen” meaning gay man. It’s interesting (perhaps only to me) that unlike other European languages, the word “woman” is etymologically related to “man” (compare _homme/femme_, _aner-gune_, _vir-mulier_, _Mann-Weib_, and so forth) but the word “queen” isn’t closely related to “king” (unlike _König_-_Königin_, _rex-regina_ and cognates). ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/12 "2005-02-18T07:21:03Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > The 4th edition of the _American Heritage Dictionary_ has this newly found etymology. _Wife_ is traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root \ ***ghwibh-** ‘shame, pudenda’. The notes on Indo-European roots there say: Etymology can be pretty embarassing sometimes. Another example is _bad_, long a mystery word, but now though to be derived from _baeddel_, meaning an intersexed or homosexual person. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/13 "2005-02-18T08:06:31Z")
> [@VampyChick](#): > > No, a werwif. Which just sounds like I have a speech impediment. No, a werwif would be someone who was both man and woman. But you could have a werwifwolf–i.e., a hermaphrodite who changed into a wolf during the full moon. ---
**Author:** ![VampyChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5daacb/32.png) [@VampyChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VampyChick)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/14 "2005-02-18T08:43:20Z")
> [@Scribble](#): > > No, a werwif would be someone who was both man and woman. But you could have a werwifwolf–i.e., a hermaphrodite who changed into a wolf during the full moon. …yeah, I’ve managed to confuse myself. I used to know this stuff. I swear. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/15 "2005-02-18T08:46:19Z")
I always thought, in English, the similarity between _woman_ and \*womb-man \* bore some exploration. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2005, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-word-woman/124318/16 "2005-02-18T13:40:46Z")
\ I know, when I was a kid I thought of womb-man as an explanation for woman, but etymologically it turns out to be vulva-human. When I was a kid, I also assumed the name of Arizona was derived from “arid zone” – isn’t it obvious? – but the accidental resemblance is not the source of the actual etymology. There are lots of coincidences like that in linguistics.