In English, lower case man (pl. men) refers to an adult human male (the term boy is the usual term for a human male child or adolescent). Although men typically have a male reproductive system, some intersex people with ambiguous genitals, and biologically female transgender people, may also be classified or self-identify as a "man".
The term manhood is used to refer to masculinity, the various qualities and characteristics attributed to men such as strength and male sexuality.
Read more about Man: Etymology, Age and Terminology, Biology and Gender, Masculinity, Culture and Gender Roles
Famous quotes containing the word man:
“Poetry is the language in which man explores his own amazement ... says heaven and earth in one word ... speaks of himself and his predicament as though for the first time. It has the virtue of being able to say twice as much as prose in half the time, and the drawback, if you do not give it your full attention, of seeming to say half as much in twice the time.”
—Christopher Fry (b. 1907)
“In one sense it is evident that the art of kingship does include the art of lawmaking. But the political ideal is not full authority for laws but rather full authority for a man who understands the art of kingship and has kingly ability.”
—Plato (428–348 B.C.)
“Authors have established it as a kind of rule, that a man ought to be dull sometimes; as the most severe reader makes allowances for many rests and nodding-places in a voluminous writer.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)