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A man is an adult, male human. The irregular plural is men. When people talk about men, they may be using the word in terms of sex distinctions, of gender role distinctions, or both.

An adult female human is a woman; and the neutral for both sex are human being, human or person.

Sex

In terms of sex, men have various sexual characteristics that differentiate them from women. In men, the sex organs are involved in the reproductive system, whereas the secondary sex characteristics are involved in attracting a mate or in defeating rivals. Men have mainly external sex organs. The study of male reproduction and associated organs is called andrology.

In general, men suffer from the same illnesses as women, however there are some sex-related illnesses that occur only or more frequently in men.

Gender Roles

In terms of gender, men differ from women by a variety of behaviours.

• Men, considered as a group, are often considered to be more aggressive than women. However, in interpersonal relationships, most research has found that men and women are equally aggressive. Men do tend to be more aggressive outside of the home.
• In modern western society, few wear cosmetics or clothing generally associated with female gender roles. (Doing so is known as cross-dressing, and is generally stigmatised).

Disambiguation

The term man may also be used:

1. as a generic form meaning humanity in general. This is objected to by feminists and is usually avoided in modern writing although it was historically common. See non-sexist language.
2. to refer to he Isle of Man.
3. to refer to the command in the UNIX system to access the electronic UNIX manual.
4. to refer to Man, Côte d'Ivoire, a large town in the west of Côte d'Ivoire.
5. in the Forever War series, humanity adapts itself into a clone based species with a single conciousness called Man.

See also: first man