-men

From men, plural of man.

-men

1. plural of -man

   horsemen, sportsmen; lawmen, newsmen; freemen, icemen, supermen; Scotsmen, Chinamen

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

-men

1. sense, capacity

   ‎aditu (“to understand”) + ‎-men → ‎adimen (“intelligence”)

2. Forming nouns expressing an action

   ‎abiatu (“to start, begin”) + ‎-men → ‎abiamen (“beginning”)

• “-men” in Labayru Hiztegia

From Proto-Italic *-men, from Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /men/, [mɛn]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /men/, [mɛn]

-men n (genitive -minis); third declension

1. forms neuter nouns of the third declension, generally with senses along the lines of 'a means of doing something'

Nouns ending in the suffix -men are often derived from verbs. Derivatives of first-conjugation verbs end in -āmen, such as lībrāmen from lībrō (“I balance, poise”) (active present infinitive lībrāre, present stem lībrā-). Derivatives of fourth-conjugation verbs end in -īmen. Derivatives of second- and third-conjugation verbs show various patterns depending on the stem involved. Derivatives of nouns or adjectives also show some variation: some end in -āmen (such as linteāmen, oleāmen, pinguāmen from linteum, oleum, pinguis) while others end in -ūmen (such as albūmen, caldūmen from albus, caldus).

Compare also the formation and use of nouns ending in -mentum; for some nouns ending in -men, there is a corresponding noun ending in -mentum with a similar meaning, such as vēlāmen (“covering”) and vēlāmentum (“covering”).

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

• Catalan: -am, -im, -um
• Galician: -ame, -ime, -ume
• Italian: -ame, -ime, -ume
• Portuguese: -ame, -ime, -ume
• Romanian: -ime
• Spanish: -ambre, -umbre

-men

1. Alternative form of -ment

• -ment

From Late Latin -mente.

-men

1. Used to form adverbs, most of the time equivalent to the English -wise, -ly.