"man Friday" meaning in English

See man Friday in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˌmæn ˈfɹaɪdeɪ/ [Received-Pronunciation], /-di/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˌmæn ˈfɹaɪˌdeɪ/ [General-American], /-di/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-man Friday.wav Forms: man Fridays [plural], men Friday [plural], men Fridays [plural]
Rhymes: -aɪdeɪ, -aɪdi Etymology: From man (“adult male servant”) + Friday, coined by the English writer Daniel Defoe (c. 1660 – 1731) in his novel Robinson Crusoe (1719) as the name of the protagonist Crusoe’s companion and servant; he is rescued by Crusoe from cannibal captives on a Friday. Crusoe frequently refers to him as “my man Friday”. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|man|Friday|t1=adult male servant}} man (“adult male servant”) + Friday, {{coinage|en|Daniel Defoe|nat=the English|nobycat=1|nocap=1|occ=writer}} coined by the English writer Daniel Defoe, {{circa2|1660|short=1}} c. 1660, {{nb...|of York, Mariner: Who Lived Eight and Twenty Years, All Alone in an Un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River Oroonoque; having been Cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein All the Men Perished but Himself. With an Account how He was at Last as Strangely Deliver’d by Pyrates.}} […], {{nb...|at the Ship in Pater-Noster-Row}} […], {{nb...|nospace=1}} […], {{nb...}} […] Head templates: {{en-noun|s|men Friday|men Fridays}} man Friday (plural man Fridays or men Friday or men Fridays)
  1. A trusted man whose job is to assist and organize someone else's day-to-day business or personal tasks; a personal assistant, a right-hand man; also, a trusted male companion. Categories (topical): British fiction, Male people, Occupations Derived forms: girl Friday Translations (trusted male companion): apumies (Finnish), по́магач (pómagač) [masculine] (Macedonian), по́мошник (pómošnik) [masculine] (Macedonian), ве́рен слу́га (véren slúga) [masculine] (Macedonian)
    Sense id: en-man_Friday-en-noun-MZOQ8WRG Disambiguation of British fiction: 69 31 Disambiguation of Male people: 75 25 Disambiguation of Occupations: 62 38 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with Macedonian translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 80 20 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 88 12 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 79 21 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 79 21 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 80 20 Disambiguation of Terms with Macedonian translations: 78 22 Disambiguation of 'trusted male companion': 95 5
  2. (derogatory) An aborigine or native, especially one who inhabits an island. Tags: derogatory
    Sense id: en-man_Friday-en-noun-BWegDwQb

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "man",
        "3": "Friday",
        "t1": "adult male servant"
      },
      "expansion": "man (“adult male servant”) + Friday",
      "name": "compound"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Daniel Defoe",
        "nat": "the English",
        "nobycat": "1",
        "nocap": "1",
        "occ": "writer"
      },
      "expansion": "coined by the English writer Daniel Defoe",
      "name": "coinage"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1660",
        "short": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "c. 1660",
      "name": "circa2"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "of York, Mariner: Who Lived Eight and Twenty Years, All Alone in an Un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River Oroonoque; having been Cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein All the Men Perished but Himself. With an Account how He was at Last as Strangely Deliver’d by Pyrates."
      },
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "at the Ship in Pater-Noster-Row"
      },
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "nospace": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From man (“adult male servant”) + Friday, coined by the English writer Daniel Defoe (c. 1660 – 1731) in his novel Robinson Crusoe (1719) as the name of the protagonist Crusoe’s companion and servant; he is rescued by Crusoe from cannibal captives on a Friday. Crusoe frequently refers to him as “my man Friday”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "man Fridays",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "men Friday",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "men Fridays",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s",
        "2": "men Friday",
        "3": "men Fridays"
      },
      "expansion": "man Friday (plural man Fridays or men Friday or men Fridays)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "man"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "80 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "80 20",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "78 22",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Macedonian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "69 31",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "British fiction",
          "orig": "en:British fiction",
          "parents": [
            "Fiction",
            "Artistic works",
            "Art",
            "Culture",
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "75 25",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Male people",
          "orig": "en:Male people",
          "parents": [
            "Male",
            "People",
            "Gender",
            "Human",
            "Biology",
            "Psychology",
            "Sociology",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Social sciences",
            "Fundamental",
            "Society"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "62 38",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Occupations",
          "orig": "en:Occupations",
          "parents": [
            "People",
            "Work",
            "Human",
            "Human activity",
            "All topics",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "88 12",
          "word": "girl Friday"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1869, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XIII, in The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims’ Progress; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. […], →OCLC, page 119:",
          "text": "This man—our lackey, our servant, our unquestioning slave though he was, was still a gentleman— […] We asked our man Friday’s name.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1945, K[arl] R[aimund] Popper, “The Principle of Leadership”, in The Open Society and Its Enemies, 4th edition, volume I (The Spell of Plato), London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, published 1962, section V, page 135:",
          "text": "Nothing is less true, as far as intellectual initiative is concerned, than the idea that those who are good in obeying will also be good in commanding. Very similar difficulties arise in political parties: the ‘Man Friday’ of the party leader is seldom a capable successor.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A trusted man whose job is to assist and organize someone else's day-to-day business or personal tasks; a personal assistant, a right-hand man; also, a trusted male companion."
      ],
      "id": "en-man_Friday-en-noun-MZOQ8WRG",
      "links": [
        [
          "trusted",
          "trusted#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "man",
          "man#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "job",
          "job#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "assist",
          "assist#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "organize",
          "organize"
        ],
        [
          "day-to-day",
          "day-to-day"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "personal",
          "personal#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "tasks",
          "task#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "personal assistant",
          "personal assistant"
        ],
        [
          "right-hand man",
          "right-hand man"
        ],
        [
          "male",
          "male#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "companion",
          "companion#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "trusted male companion",
          "word": "apumies"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "pómagač",
          "sense": "trusted male companion",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "по́магач"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "pómošnik",
          "sense": "trusted male companion",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "по́мошник"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "roman": "véren slúga",
          "sense": "trusted male companion",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "ве́рен слу́га"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "handwritten note on a confidential diplomatic cable relating to the depopulation of the Chagos Archipelago",
          "ref": "1966 August 24, D[enis] A[rthur] Greenhill, British Indian Ocean Territory [handwritten note on a confidential diplomatic cable relating to the depopulation of the Chagos Archipelago]:",
          "text": "Unfortunately along with the Birds go some few Tarzans or Men Fridays whose origins are obscure, and who are being hopefully wished on to Mauritius etc.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An aborigine or native, especially one who inhabits an island."
      ],
      "id": "en-man_Friday-en-noun-BWegDwQb",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "aborigine",
          "aborigine"
        ],
        [
          "native",
          "native#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "inhabit",
          "inhabit"
        ],
        [
          "island",
          "island#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(derogatory) An aborigine or native, especially one who inhabits an island."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌmæn ˈfɹaɪdeɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-di/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-man Friday.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a3/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-man_Friday.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-man_Friday.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a3/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-man_Friday.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-man_Friday.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌmæn ˈfɹaɪˌdeɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-di/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪdeɪ"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪdi"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Robinson Crusoe"
  ],
  "word": "man Friday"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English coinages",
    "English compound nouns",
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English eponyms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from fiction",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/aɪdeɪ",
    "Rhymes:English/aɪdeɪ/3 syllables",
    "Rhymes:English/aɪdi",
    "Rhymes:English/aɪdi/3 syllables",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with Macedonian translations",
    "en:British fiction",
    "en:Male people",
    "en:Occupations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "girl Friday"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "man",
        "3": "Friday",
        "t1": "adult male servant"
      },
      "expansion": "man (“adult male servant”) + Friday",
      "name": "compound"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Daniel Defoe",
        "nat": "the English",
        "nobycat": "1",
        "nocap": "1",
        "occ": "writer"
      },
      "expansion": "coined by the English writer Daniel Defoe",
      "name": "coinage"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1660",
        "short": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "c. 1660",
      "name": "circa2"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "of York, Mariner: Who Lived Eight and Twenty Years, All Alone in an Un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River Oroonoque; having been Cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein All the Men Perished but Himself. With an Account how He was at Last as Strangely Deliver’d by Pyrates."
      },
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "at the Ship in Pater-Noster-Row"
      },
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "nospace": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    },
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "[…]",
      "name": "nb..."
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From man (“adult male servant”) + Friday, coined by the English writer Daniel Defoe (c. 1660 – 1731) in his novel Robinson Crusoe (1719) as the name of the protagonist Crusoe’s companion and servant; he is rescued by Crusoe from cannibal captives on a Friday. Crusoe frequently refers to him as “my man Friday”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "man Fridays",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "men Friday",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "men Fridays",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "s",
        "2": "men Friday",
        "3": "men Fridays"
      },
      "expansion": "man Friday (plural man Fridays or men Friday or men Fridays)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenation": [
    "man"
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1869, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XIII, in The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims’ Progress; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company. […], →OCLC, page 119:",
          "text": "This man—our lackey, our servant, our unquestioning slave though he was, was still a gentleman— […] We asked our man Friday’s name.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1945, K[arl] R[aimund] Popper, “The Principle of Leadership”, in The Open Society and Its Enemies, 4th edition, volume I (The Spell of Plato), London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, published 1962, section V, page 135:",
          "text": "Nothing is less true, as far as intellectual initiative is concerned, than the idea that those who are good in obeying will also be good in commanding. Very similar difficulties arise in political parties: the ‘Man Friday’ of the party leader is seldom a capable successor.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A trusted man whose job is to assist and organize someone else's day-to-day business or personal tasks; a personal assistant, a right-hand man; also, a trusted male companion."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "trusted",
          "trusted#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "man",
          "man#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "job",
          "job#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "assist",
          "assist#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "organize",
          "organize"
        ],
        [
          "day-to-day",
          "day-to-day"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "personal",
          "personal#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "tasks",
          "task#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "personal assistant",
          "personal assistant"
        ],
        [
          "right-hand man",
          "right-hand man"
        ],
        [
          "male",
          "male#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "companion",
          "companion#Noun"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "handwritten note on a confidential diplomatic cable relating to the depopulation of the Chagos Archipelago",
          "ref": "1966 August 24, D[enis] A[rthur] Greenhill, British Indian Ocean Territory [handwritten note on a confidential diplomatic cable relating to the depopulation of the Chagos Archipelago]:",
          "text": "Unfortunately along with the Birds go some few Tarzans or Men Fridays whose origins are obscure, and who are being hopefully wished on to Mauritius etc.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An aborigine or native, especially one who inhabits an island."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "aborigine",
          "aborigine"
        ],
        [
          "native",
          "native#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "inhabit",
          "inhabit"
        ],
        [
          "island",
          "island#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(derogatory) An aborigine or native, especially one who inhabits an island."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌmæn ˈfɹaɪdeɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-di/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-man Friday.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a3/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-man_Friday.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-man_Friday.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a3/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-man_Friday.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-man_Friday.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌmæn ˈfɹaɪˌdeɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/-di/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪdeɪ"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aɪdi"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "trusted male companion",
      "word": "apumies"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "pómagač",
      "sense": "trusted male companion",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "по́магач"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "pómošnik",
      "sense": "trusted male companion",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "по́мошник"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "roman": "véren slúga",
      "sense": "trusted male companion",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "ве́рен слу́га"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Robinson Crusoe"
  ],
  "word": "man Friday"
}

Download raw JSONL data for man Friday meaning in English (6.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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