Etymology

laywoman

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Today it means: A woman who is a layperson, one who has not taken a religious oath (such as becoming a nun). Full definition →

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

  1. Englishlay
  2. Proto-Germanic*wībą
  3. Proto-West Germanic*wīb
  4. Old Englishwīf
  5. Proto-Indo-European*mon-
  6. Proto-Germanic*mann-
  7. Proto-West Germanic*mann
  8. Old Englishmann
  9. Old Englishwīfmann
  10. Middle Englishwoman
  11. English todaylaywoman

From lay + -woman.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.