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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

chairman.

A person presiding over a meeting, sometimes especially a man. (Compare chairwoman, chairperson, chair.)

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈtʃɛːmən/UK/ˈtʃɛɹ.mən/US
  1. A person presiding over a meeting, sometimes especially a man. (Compare chairwoman, chairperson, chair.)

  2. The head of a corporate or governmental board of directors, a committee, or other formal entity.

  3. Someone whose job is to carry people in a portable chair, sedan chair, or similar conveyance.

    historical
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥-th₂der.? Proto-Hellenic *kətá Ancient Greek κατά (katá) Proto-Indo-European *sed-der. Proto-Indo-European *sedreh₂ Proto-Hellenic *hédrā Ancient Greek ἕδρα (hédra) Ancient Greek κᾰθέδρᾱ (kăthédrā)bor. Latin cathedrader. Old French chaierebor. Middle English chayere English chair Proto-Indo-European *mon- Proto-Germanic *mann- Proto-West Germanic *mann Old English mann Middle English man Middle English -man English -man English chairman From chair + -man.

verb/ˈtʃɛːmən/UK/ˈtʃɛɹ.mən/US
  1. To serve as chairman.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ḱe? Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥-th₂der.? Proto-Hellenic *kətá Ancient Greek κατά (katá) Proto-Indo-European *sed-der. Proto-Indo-European *sedreh₂ Proto-Hellenic *hédrā Ancient Greek ἕδρα (hédra) Ancient Greek κᾰθέδρᾱ (kăthédrā)bor. Latin cathedrader. Old French chaierebor. Middle English chayere English chair Proto-Indo-European *mon- Proto-Germanic *mann- Proto-West Germanic *mann Old English mann Middle English man Middle English -man English -man English chairman From chair + -man.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.