Etymology

helmsman

H4E1L1M3S1M3A1N1

Today it means: A member of a ship's crew who is responsible for steering. Full definition →

English man ← Middle English man ← Old English mann
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The story

  1. Englishhelm
  2. Proto-Indo-European*mon-
  3. Proto-Germanic*mann-
  4. Proto-West Germanic*mann
  5. Old Englishmann
  6. Middle Englishman
  7. Englishman
  8. English todayhelmsman

From helm + -s- + man.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.