common man | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

2166 entries found.

manservant (n.)

also man-servant, "a man who is a servant," late 14c., from man (n.) + servant.

drayman (n.)

"man who drives and manages a dray," 1580s, from dray + man (n.).

clergyman (n.)

"member of the clergy, a man in holy orders," 1570s, from clergy + man (n.).

barman (n.)

"man who tends a bar," 1837, from bar (n.2) + man (n.).

commonly (adv.)

c. 1300, "in a way common to all," also "common to all;" also "usually, generally," from common (adj.) + -ly (2).

freak (n.2)

"brave man, warrior," Scottish freik, from Middle English freke "a bold man, a warrior, a man," from Old English freca "bold man, a warrior," from frec "greedy, eager, bold" (compare German frech "bold, impudent").

herdsman (n.)

"one employed in tending a herd of cattle," an alteration of Middle English herdman, from Old English heordman; see herd (n.1) + man (n.). The word was not common until the noun herd (n.2) in sense "keeper of domestic animals which go in herds" fell from use (compare shepherd). The unetymological -s- appeared early 15c., on model of craftsman, etc.

virility (n.)

"period of manhood," 1580s, from French virilité, from Latin virilitatem (nominative virilitas) "manhood," from virilis "of a man, manly, worthy of a man," from vir "a man, a hero," from PIE root *wi-ro- "man." Meaning "power of procreation, capacity for sexua intercourse" is from 1590s; sense of "manly strength" is recorded from c. 1600.

jockstrap (n.)

also jock-strap, "supporter of the male genital organs, used in sports," 1887, with strap (n.) + jock slang for "penis" c. 1650-c. 1850, probably one of the many colloquial uses of Jock (the northern and Scottish form of Jack), which was used generically for "common man" from c. 1500. Jockey-strap in the same sense is from 1890, with also an example from 1870 but the sense is uncertain.

spiffy (adj.)

1853, of uncertain origin, probably related to spiff "well-dressed man." Uncertain relationship to spiff (n.) "percentage allowed by drapers to their young men when they effect sale of old fashioned or undesirable stock" (1859), or to spiflicate "confound, overcome completely," a cant word from 1749 that was "common in the 19th century" [OED], preserved in American English and yielded slang spiflicated "drunk," first recorded in that sense 1902.

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