Etymology

businesswoman

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Today it means: A woman involved in business. Full definition →

Middle English woman ← Old English wīfmann ← Proto-West Germanic *mann
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The story

  1. Proto-West Germanic*bisīg
  2. Old Englishbisiġ
  3. Old Englishbisiġnes
  4. Middle Englishbisynes
  5. Englishbusiness
  6. Proto-Germanic*wībą
  7. Proto-West Germanic*wīb
  8. Old Englishwīf
  9. Proto-Indo-European*mon-
  10. Proto-Germanic*mann-
  11. Proto-West Germanic*mann
  12. Old Englishmann
  13. Old Englishwīfmann
  14. Middle Englishwoman
  15. English todaybusinesswoman

From business + -woman.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.