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Many

//ˈmɛni// adj, det, name, noun, pron

Definitions

Adjective

1
Existing in large number; numerous.
"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."

Adjective

1
a 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 wordnet

Determiner

1
before a countable noun: A large, indefinite number of.
"Not many such people enjoyed playing chess."
2
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.
"We don't need this many bananas. Put some back."

Proper Noun

1
A surname. countable, uncountable
2
A town, the parish seat of Sabine Parish, Louisiana, United States. countable, uncountable

Noun

1
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."
2
A considerable number.
"I know that my mother cried a many of times from decisions I made."

Pronoun

1
A large, indefinite number of people or things.
"Many are called, but few are chosen."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

Etymology 4

Etymology 5

Borrowed from French Many or a variant of Maney. The town in Louisiana is named after a Colonel Many.

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