men

¹

[ men ]

noun

1. plural of man.

men-

²

1. variant of meno- before a vowel:

   menarche.

men

/ mɛn /

noun

1. See man
   the plural of man

Idioms and Phrases

see all things to all people (men) ; separate the men from the boys . Also see under man .

Example Sentences

“I think for trans men who are dating every time they hook up they have another coming out,” Sandler said.

From The Daily Beast

In the 90s, it kept gay men out of leadership roles in the Boy Scouts of America.

From The Daily Beast

Isolated lesbians learned that there were other women like them via books whose covers aimed to titillate heterosexual men.

From The Daily Beast

Security officials told Agence France-Presse that the gas station manager said he had recognized the two men.

From The Daily Beast

The juxtaposition planted a story of association on websites that touted both men for their talks.

From The Daily Beast

Most of the men leaped up, caught hold of spears or knives, and rushed out.

From Project Gutenberg

The Duchess had also a tent for their sick men; so that we had a small town of our own here, and every body employed.

From Project Gutenberg

The case was an assault and battery that came off between two men named Brown and Henderson.

From Project Gutenberg

In particular the Governor of Adinskoy offered us a guard of fifty men to the next station, if we apprehended any danger.

From Project Gutenberg

As men fixed in the grip of nightmare, we were powerless—unable to do anything but wait.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• dude
• fellow
• gentleman
• guy
• person

Words That Use men-

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.

Examples of men-

The combining form men- is rare. One example of combining form men- can be found in the word menarche, meaning “the first menstrual period.”

The first part of the word, men-, refers to “menstruation.” The second part of the word, arche, comes from the Greek word for “beginning.” Menarche means “beginning of menstruation.”

What are some words that use the combining form men-?

• menacme

What are some other forms that men- may be commonly confused with?

• -ment
• mer-
• mes-

Many other words begin with the letters men- but do not use men- as a combining form to refer to menstruation. Menial, menace, and mental are just three examples. And the word men, plural of man, is entirely spelled with the letters m-e-n, but has nothing to do with months or menses.

Break it down!

Menarche is the period of a woman’s life when she starts menstruating. Menopause is when menstruating ends. What is menacme?