Meanings
many1
comparative more · superlative most · alternative obsolete manie
- before a countable noun: A large, indefinite number of.
Not many such people enjoyed playing chess.
5 more examples
There are very many different ways to cook a meal.
We spent many hours and days training, but running clubs boast many hundreds of faster members.
Thou shalt be a father of many nations.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 17:4I did it in a moment of conceit and folly—one of my many such moments—one of my many such hours—years.
1864–65, Charles Dickens, chapter 15, in Our Mutual FriendInvestors face a quandary. Cash offers a return of virtually zero in many developed countries; government-bond yields may have risen in recent weeks but they are still unattractive. Equities have suffered two big bear markets since 2000 and are wobbling again. It is hardly surprising that pension funds, insurers and endowments are searching for new sources of return.
2013 July 6, “The rise of smart beta”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8843, page 68Synonyms: numerous · Antonyms: a couple of, a few, a handful of, several, one, no, zero
- before a countable noun: (in combinations such as 'as many', 'so many', 'this many') Used to indicate, demonstrate or compare the number of people or things.
I've never seen these many stars in the sky.
3 more examples
We don't need this many bananas. Put some back.
There may be as many as ten million species of insect.
I don't have as many friends as my sister does.
alternative obsolete manie
- A large, indefinite number of people or things.
Many are called, but few are chosen.
3 more examples
Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us...
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 1:1By some paradoxical evolution rancour and intolerance have been established in the vanguard of primitive Christianity. Mrs. Spoker, in common with many of the stricter disciples of righteousness, was as inclement in demeanour as she was cadaverous in aspect.
1921, Ben Travers, chapter 4, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLCThe big houses, and there are a good many of them, lie for the most part in what may be called by courtesy the valleys. You catch a glimpse of them sometimes at a little distance from the [railway] line, which seems to have shown some ingenuity in avoiding them,[…].
1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter III, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC
plural rare manies · alternative obsolete manie
- A multitude; a great aggregate; a mass of people; the generality; the common herd.
Democracy must balance the rights of the few against the will of the many.
Synonyms: crowd, mob, canaille, commonality, commonalty, crowd, commonage, demos
comparative more · superlative most · alternative obsolete manie
- Existing in large number; numerous.
Among my many faults is self-importance.
2 more examples
I was among the many visitors to that town.
Let’s take these fears about a rich, strong China to their logical extreme. The U.S. and Chinese governments are always disagreeing—about trade, foreign policy, the environment. Someday the disagreement could be severe. Taiwan, Tibet, North Korea, Iran—the possibilities are many, though Taiwan always heads the list.
2008 January/February, James Fallows, “The $1.4 Trillion Question”, in The Atlantic Monthly
Many2
plural Manys
- countableuncountableA surname.
- countableuncountableA town, the parish seat of Sabine Parish, Louisiana, United States.
Synonyms & antonyms
determinerbefore a countable noun: A large, indefinite number of.
nounA multitude; a great aggregate; a mass of people; the generality; the common herd.
nounA considerable number.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivea quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by ‘as’ or ‘too’ or ‘so’ or ‘that’; amounting to a large but indefinite number; quantifier, plural pronoun; quantifier, plural
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
many · determiner, pronoun, noun, adjective
- Proto-Germanic*managō
- Proto-West Germanic*managu
- Old Englishmanigeo
- Middle Englishmanye
- Proto-Indo-European*méǵh₂-“big, great”
- Proto-Indo-European*menegʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*managaz“many; much”
- Proto-West Germanic*manag
- Old Englishmaniġ
- Middle Englishmany
- Englishmany
From Middle English many, mani, moni, from Old English maniġ, moniġ, maneġ (“many”), from Proto-West Germanic *manag, from Proto-Germanic *managaz (“many; much”), from Proto-Indo-European *menegʰ-, *mengʰ- (“many, sufficient”) or Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂- (“big, great”). Cognates Cognate with Scots mony (“many”), Yola many (“many”), North Frisian manag, manig, mäning (“many”), Alemannic German meng (“many”), Central Franconian mannich, männich (“many”), Dutch menig (“many”), German manch (“many, some”), Low German männich, männig (“many”), Luxembourgish muench, munch, munnech (“many”), Danish mangen (“many”), Faroese mangur (“many”), Icelandic margur (“many”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk mang, mange (“many”), Swedish mången (“many”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌲𐍃 (manags, “many; much”), French maint (“many”); also Cornish menowgh (“frequent, often”), Irish minic (“frequently, often”), Manx mennick (“frequent, often”), Scottish Gaelic minig (“frequent”), Welsh mynych (“frequent, often”), Belarusian мно́га (mnóha, “many; much”), Bulgarian and Russian мно́го (mnógo, “many; much”), Czech mnohý (“many, numerous”), Macedonian мно́гу (mnógu, “very; many; much”), Polish mnogi (“numerous; plural”), Serbo-Croatian мно̏гӣ, mnȍgī (“many; much, long; large, numerous”), Ukrainian мно́гий (mnóhyj, “many, multiple”). The noun is from Middle English manye, *menye, from Old English manigeo, menigu (“company, multitude, host”), from Proto-West Germanic *managu, *managī, from Proto-Germanic *managō, *managį̄ (“multitude”), from the same root as the determiner. Cognate with Middle Low German menige, menie, menje (“multitude”), Russian много (mnogo), Serbo-Croatian mnogo.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Many · proper noun
- FrenchMany
- EnglishMany
Borrowed from French Many or a variant of Maney. The town in Louisiana is named after a Colonel Many.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans baie, menige
- baiean indefinite large number of
- menigean indefinite large number of
Ancient Greek πολλοί, πολλαί
- πολλοί (polloí)an indefinite large number of
- πολλαί (pollaí)an indefinite large number of
- πολλά (pollá)an indefinite large number of
Arabic كَثِير, كَثِير
- كَثِير (kaṯīr)an indefinite large number of
- كَثِير (kaṯīr)an indefinite large number of people or things
- متعددan indefinite large number of people or things
Bengali অনেক
- অনেক (onek)an indefinite large number of people or things
Bulgarian мно́го, доста
- мно́го (mnógo)an indefinite large number of
- доста (dosta)an indefinite large number of
- бая (baja)an indefinite large number of
- много (mnogo)an indefinite large number of people or things
- многото (mnogoto)a collective mass of people
- множество (množestvo)a collective mass of people
Catalan molts, moltes
- moltsan indefinite large number of
- moltesan indefinite large number of
Chinese Cantonese 好多
- 好多 (hou² do¹)an indefinite large number of
Chinese Mandarin 多, 很多
- 多 (duō)an indefinite large number of
- 很多 (hěnduō)an indefinite large number of
- 好多 (hǎoduō)an indefinite large number of
- 許多 /许多 (xǔduō)an indefinite large number of
Czech mnoho
- mnohoan indefinite large number of
Danish mange, mangen
- mangean indefinite large number of
- mangenan indefinite large number of
- mangean indefinite large number of people or things
Dutch veel, vele
- veelan indefinite large number of
- velean indefinite large number of
- menigan indefinite large number of
- velenan indefinite large number of people or things
- veelan indefinite large number of people or things
- menigtea collective mass of people
Esperanto multaj, multaj
- multajan indefinite large number of
- multajan indefinite large number of people or things
- multaja collective mass of people
Estonian palju
- paljuan indefinite large number of
Finnish moni, monta
- monian indefinite large number of
- montaan indefinite large number of
- see also Thesaurus:runsaastian indefinite large number of
- monetan indefinite large number of people or things
- moneta collective mass of people
French beaucoup de, de nombreux
- beaucoup dean indefinite large number of
- de nombreuxan indefinite large number of
- plusieursan indefinite large number of
- beaucoupan indefinite large number of people or things
- un grand nombrean indefinite large number of people or things
- le plus grand nombrea collective mass of people
German viele
- vielean indefinite large number of
Greek πολλοί
- πολλοί (polloí)an indefinite large number of
Hawaiian he nui
- he nuian indefinite large number of
Hebrew רַבִּים, הַרְבֵּה
- רַבִּים (rabim)an indefinite large number of
- הַרְבֵּה (harbé)an indefinite large number of
Hindi बहुत, बहु
- बहुत (bahut)an indefinite large number of
- बहु (bahu)an indefinite large number of
- अधिक (adhik)an indefinite large number of
- ज़्यादा (zyādā)an indefinite large number of
Hungarian sok, sok
- sokan indefinite large number of
- sokan indefinite large number of people or things
- sokaka collective mass of people
- sokana collective mass of people
Icelandic margur
- marguran indefinite large number of
Indonesian banyak
- banyakan indefinite large number of
Irish a lán, mórán
- a lánan indefinite large number of
- móránan indefinite large number of
Italian molti, un gran numero di
- moltian indefinite large number of
- un gran numero dian indefinite large number of
- moltian indefinite large number of people or things
Japanese 多くの, 多い
- 多くの (ōkuno)an indefinite large number of
- 多い (ōi)an indefinite large number of
- 沢山 (takusan)an indefinite large number of
Korean 많은
- 많은 (maneun)an indefinite large number of
Latin multi
- multian indefinite large number of
Latvian daudz, daudzi
- daudzan indefinite large number of
- daudzian indefinite large number of
Lithuanian daug, daugelis
- daugan indefinite large number of
- daugelisan indefinite large number of
Malay banyak, ramai
- banyakan indefinite large number of
- ramaian indefinite large number of
Norwegian mange
- mangean indefinite large number of
Persian زیاد, چندین
- زیاد (ziyâd)an indefinite large number of
- چندین (čandin)an indefinite large number of
- بسیار (besiyâr)an indefinite large number of
- خیلی (xeyli)an indefinite large number of
Polish wiele, dużo
- wielean indefinite large number of
- dużoan indefinite large number of
Portuguese muitos, muitas
- muitosan indefinite large number of
- muitasan indefinite large number of
- massaa collective mass of people
- multidãoa collective mass of people
Romanian mulți, multe
- mulțian indefinite large number of
- multean indefinite large number of
- mulțian indefinite large number of people or things
- mulțimea collective mass of people
Russian мно́го, мно́гие
- мно́го (mnógo)an indefinite large number of
- мно́гие (mnógije)an indefinite large number of
- мно́гий (mnógij)an indefinite large number of
- мно́гие (mnógije)an indefinite large number of people or things
- мно́гое (mnógoje)an indefinite large number of people or things
- мно́гие (mnógije)a collective mass of people
Scottish Gaelic iomadh
- iomadhan indefinite large number of
Slovak mnohý, mnohá
- mnohýan indefinite large number of
- mnoháan indefinite large number of
- mnohéan indefinite large number of
- mnohían indefinite large number of
- mnohéan indefinite large number of
- mnohoan indefinite large number of
- veľaan indefinite large number of
Spanish muchos, muchas
- muchosan indefinite large number of
- muchasan indefinite large number of
- muchosan indefinite large number of people or things
Swahili -ingi, wengi
- -ingian indefinite large number of
- wengian indefinite large number of people or things
- wengia collective mass of people
Swedish många
- mångaan indefinite large number of
Tagalog marami
- maramian indefinite large number of
Tamil நிறைய, பல
- நிறைய (niṟaiya)an indefinite large number of
- பல (pala)an indefinite large number of
Thai ขนัด, มาก
- ขนัด (kà-nàt)an indefinite large number of
- มาก (mâak)an indefinite large number of
- เยอะ (yə́)an indefinite large number of
- รุ่ม (rûm)an indefinite large number of
- หลาย (lǎai)an indefinite large number of
Turkish çok, pek çok
- çokan indefinite large number of
- pek çokan indefinite large number of
- birçokan indefinite large number of
- fazlaan indefinite large number of
Ukrainian бага́то, чима́ло
- бага́то (baháto)an indefinite large number of
- чима́ло (čymálo)an indefinite large number of
Urdu بہت, زیادہ
- بہت (bahut)an indefinite large number of
- زیادہ (zyādā)an indefinite large number of
Vietnamese nhiều, lắm
- nhiềuan indefinite large number of
- lắman indefinite large number of
Welsh llawer
- llaweran indefinite large number of
Yiddish אַ סך
- אַ סך (a sakh)an indefinite large number of
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with many
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
many. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/many
“many.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/many. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “many,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/many.
Source: many on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.