men
noun
plural of man.
men
1 American
[men]
/ mɛn /
noun
men-
2
American
men
British
/ mɛn /
noun
men
Idioms
Usage
What does men- mean? Men- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “month.” It is used in a few medical terms, specifically in references to menstruation. Men- comes from the Greek mḗn, meaning “month.” It's distantly related to the English word moon, itself related to the word month. Many calendars, both in the past and present, are based on the cycles of the moon. Menstruation is the periodic flow (known as menses) of blood and other substances from the uterus, which happens approximately every month in women of certain ages. Indeed, both menstruation and menses derive from the Latin mēnsis, meaning “month.”Men- is a variant of meno-, which loses its -o- when combined with words or word elements beginning with vowels. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use meno- article.
Explanation
Use the word men to mean "more than one man." If you use the men's bathroom, you'll probably find more than one man there. The men on a job, like farmhands or factory laborers, make up a workforce, and they can be male or female and still be called men. You might also use this word to mean "members of a team" or "members of a military platoon." Men comes from man, which in the original Old English was completely gender neutral, meaning "human being" or "person," rather than specifically "male person."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Hal Jordan and John Stewart are both military men.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
Our critic said that the writer “creates a kaleidoscopic portrait of a generation of Jewish men and women.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
The staff’s “rebellion,” Ms. Rogoyska tells us, lay “not in poisoning the Germans’ soup but in keeping something hidden from their masters, right under their noses: the finest wine, and perhaps a few men, too.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Prof Vaibhav Modgil, an andrologist and consultant urological surgeon for the NHS in Manchester, has seen these men coming into hospital after botched procedures.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
But today, me and Charlie were the old men of the group.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Schlesinger explained why victims of one killer - serial killers are nearly always men- could be left in different conditions.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 15, 2023
Only 104 men- Egyptians, Pakistanis, Syrians and Palestinians - survived and 82 bodies were recovered.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 21, 2023
We en- courage states to continue to fight this public men- ace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety and well-being.
From Time ● Jul. 18, 2016
"It's happening to lots and lots of men- and it's about time people woke up to it."
From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2010
They had only three dead; two of Lord Bracken's men- at-arms, Kurleket and Mohor, and his own man Jyck, who had made such a bold show with his bareback charge.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
