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:
Amongst them are soldiers from Ukraine itself: the men who went to war with their own country.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
The finding could help explain why lupus occurs about nine times more often in women than in men.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
Rhys: I don’t do much with Instagram but my algorithm is generally older men showing you how to kind of spile a garboard plank next to a keel, things like that.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
But with no access to the military inside Russia, it is a chance to assess the dynamics of this war and explore what might motivate the men fighting it.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Both men are big, with taut, dark faces.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
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.
