Woman

A woman is an adult female human being, as contrasted with a man, an adult male, and a girl, a female child. The term woman (irregular plural: women) is used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions, or both.

Etymology

The English term "man" (from Proto-Germanic mannaz "man, person") and words derived therefrom can designate any or even all of the human race regardless of their gender or age. This is indeed the oldest usage of "man". In Old English the words wer and wyf (also wæpman and wifman) were what was used to refer to "a man" and "a woman" respectively, and "man" was gender neutral. In Middle English man displaced wer as term for "male human", whilst wyfman (which eventually evolved into woman) was retained for "female human". Man does continue to carry its original sense of "Human" however, resulting in an asymmetry sometimes criticized as sexist. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=man (see also Womyn).

Related Topics:
English - Proto-Germanic - Mannaz - Old English - Wer - Wyf - Wæpman - Wifman - Middle English - Human - Asymmetry - Womyn

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The symbol for the planet Venus is the sign also known in biology for the female sex: a stylized representation of the goddess Venus's hand mirror: a circle with a small cross underneath (Unicode: ♀). The Venus symbol also represented femininity, and in ancient alchemy stood for copper. Alchemists constructed the symbol from a circle (representing spirit) above a cross (representing matter).

Related Topics:
Venus - Mirror - Unicode - Femininity - Copper - Spirit - Matter

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