# What’s the origin of the word ‘woman’?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-origin-of-the-word-woman/290560>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 17, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-origin-of-the-word-woman/290560 "2005-02-17T16:40:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FlippyFly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FlippyFly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlippyFly)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-origin-of-the-word-woman/290560/1 "2005-02-17T16:40:26Z")

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Does ‘wo’ have a meaning as a prefix, making it someone like, oh, I don’t know, not-a-man?

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**Author:** ![FlippyFly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FlippyFly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlippyFly)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-origin-of-the-word-woman/290560/2 "2005-02-17T16:41:33Z")

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Please ignore, I found it

[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=131160&highlight=word+origin+woman](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=131160&highlight=word+origin+woman)