landsman

¹ American  

[landz-muhn] / ˈlændz mən /

noun

PLURAL

landsmen

1. Also a person who lives or works on land.

2. an inexperienced sailor or one who has not been to sea before.

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landsman ² American  

[lahnts-muhn] / ˈlɑnts mən /

noun

Yiddish.

PLURAL

landsleit

PLURAL

landsmen

1. a person from the same town, geographical area, region, etc., as another; compatriot.

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landsman ¹ British  

/ ˈlændzmən /

noun

1. a person who works or lives on land, as distinguished from a seaman

2. a person with no experience at sea

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landsman ² British  

/ ˈlændzmən /

noun

1. a Jewish compatriot from the same area of origin as another

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Gender

See -man.

Etymology

Origin of landsman

before 1000 for sense “native”; Middle English landes man, londes man, Old English landes mann; land, 's ¹, -man

Example Sentences

“In our area, people want to get back to work, they’re willing to take a business risk on whether or not they catch this” virus, said GOP Rep. James Stricker, an oil landsman from Farmington.

From Washington Times

I think he is trying to communicate with his landsmen using expressions that are unique to a very small population.

From Washington Post

Farmer, goatherd, cattleherd, hunter or artisan, the landsman looks at the ocean as at a salt unsteady realm that has nothing to do with him at all.

From Literature

The Jewish minority in Berlin were betting on assimilation and acceptance, trying to distance themselves from their more alien landsmen to the east.

From New York Times

She married a landsman, who became a diamond merchant; in the early nineteen-fifties, the couple resettled in the Bronx, and some fifteen years later, as empty-nesters, they went back to Israel.

From The New Yorker

Related Words

• compatriot