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.
Young men jokingly refer to "monitoring the situation" – learning about the news and potential investment opportunities by scrolling social media and prediction market homepages.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
After she posted the video, Vargas said that she received some ire from men.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026
The four people killed in the Cuban shootdown included two young men -- Carlos Costa and Mario de la Pena -- who only wanted to save boat people, said Gonzalez.
From Barron's • May 21, 2026
The men are due to appear before Belfast Magistrates' Court on Friday.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
‘The men didn’t find Willem last night,’ Hugo was saying.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
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.
