Meanings
plural salarymen
- An employee, a worker; now especially a Japanese white-collar worker who works long hours yet has an insignificant position within the corporate hierarchy.
In this way, the salaryman was both a progressive social stratum and an intellectual class.
2000, Harry Harootunian, Overcome by Modernity, page 2051 more example
2017 May 30, NTT Solmare, Moe! Ninja Girls, Season 6 Chapter 2, iOS and Android ― Yamabuki: “Okay... *Sigh*... I thought l'd get to go home and sleep after taking the Principal back...but here I am, still at it, like an overworked salaryman!” ― John: “What? Salaryman?”
Origin
Phono-semantic matching of Japanese サラリーマン (sararīman), itself a wasei eigo (和製英語; pseudo-anglicism) derived from salary + man.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish toimihenkilö, salaryman
- toimihenkilöa salaried worker in Japan or South Korea
- salarymana salaried worker in Japan or South Korea
French salaryman
- salarymana salaried worker in Japan or South Korea
German Salaryman
- Salarymana salaried worker in Japan or South Korea
Japanese サラリーマン
- サラリーマン (sararīman)a salaried worker in Japan or South Korea
Korean 샐러리맨
- 샐러리맨 (saelleorimaen)a salaried worker in Japan or South Korea
Russian салариман
- салариман (salariman)a salaried worker in Japan or South Korea
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with salaryman
All rhymes →Cite this entry
salaryman. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/salaryman
“salaryman.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/salaryman. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “salaryman,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/salaryman.
Source: salaryman on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.