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.
This was in part aided by Paraguay's poor defensive approach but Mauricio Pochettino's men provided the best example of how nations are opting to use more fluid midfields.
From BBC • Jun. 15, 2026
He says his group has 8,000 men like him, men who are grateful for the sports opportunities their daughters have that their mothers and grandmothers didn’t.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 15, 2026
“For the first time in this litigation, the government argues that civil detention ‘does not implicate any fundamental rights’ and so the Due Process Clause affords the detained men no protections—substantive or procedural,” they wrote.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 15, 2026
The findings suggested that higher tyrosine levels may contribute to reduced life expectancy in men.
From Science Daily • Jun. 15, 2026
He says he doesn’t think it’s appropriate for her to be friends with any of the men at Carville, because she is married.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
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.
