foreman

See also: Foreman

English

Alternative forms

• forman (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English foremon, forman; equivalent to fore- +‎ man. Compare West Frisian foarman, Dutch voorman, German Vormann, Danish formand, Swedish förman, Icelandic formaður.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔː(ɹ)mən/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)mən

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

foreman (plural foremen)

1. (management) The leader of a work crew.
   • 2019, Robert Eggers, Max Eggers, The Lighthouse (motion picture), spoken by Thomas Wake (Willem Dafoe):

     Since we’re getting too friendly, Ephraim Winslow, tell me, what’s a timber man want with being a wickie? Not enough quiet for ye up north? Sawdust itching yer nethers? Foreman found ye too high-tempered for carrying an axe?

2. (law) The member of a jury who presides over it and speaks on its behalf.
3. (US, historical) A slave assistant to the white overseer who managed field hands.

Derived terms

• foremanship
• subforeman

Related terms

• forepeople
• foreperson
• forewoman

Descendants

• → Gulf Arabic: فورمن (fōrman)

Translations

leader of a work crew

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Apache:

  Western Apache: nantʼán

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: бригадир (bg) m (brigadir), майстор (bg) m (majstor)
• Catalan: capatàs (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 工头 (zh) (gōngtóu), 領班 / 领班 (zh) (lǐngbān)

• Czech: předák m
• Danish: formand c, værkfører c, sjakbajs c
• Esperanto: laborestro
• Estonian: töödejuhataja
• Faroese: formaður m
• Finnish: työnjohtaja (fi)
• French: chef (fr) m, chef d’équipe m, contremaître (fr) m
• Galician: maioral m, capataz m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Vorarbeiter (de) m, Polier (de) m
• Greek: εργοδηγός (el) m or f (ergodigós)
• Hebrew: מנהל עבודה m
• Hungarian: művezető (hu)
• Ingrian: päämees, päänikka
• Irish: maor m
• Italian: (at a construction site) caposquadra, capoccia m
• Japanese: 工場長 (ja)
• Khmer: មេការ (mee kaa)
• Macedonian: палир m (palir)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: formann (no) m, arbeidsformann m

  Nynorsk: formann m, arbeidsformann m

• Persian: سرکارگر (fa) (sarkârgar)
• Polish: majster (pl) m, kierownik budowy m
• Portuguese: capataz (pt)
• Romanian: maistru (ro) m
• Russian: ма́стер (ru) m (máster), бригади́р (ru) m (brigadír), прора́б (ru) m (proráb) (at a consruction site), штейгер (ru) m (štejger) (at a mine)
• Scottish Gaelic: maor m, maor-obrach m
• Slovak: predák m
• Spanish: capataz (es) m, sobrestante (es) m or f
• Swedish: förman (sv) c, lagbas c
• Turkish: ustabaşı (tr) sg

member of a jury who presides over it and speaks on its behalf

• Danish: juryformand c
• Finnish: puheenjohtaja (fi)
• German: Sprecher der Geschworenen m, Sprecherin der Geschworenen f
• Japanese: 陪審長
• Manx: ard-ghooinney bingagh m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: juryformann m

  Nynorsk: juryformann m

• Persian: سخنگو (fa) (soxangu)
• Spanish: presidente del jurado m or f, presidenta del jurado f
• Swedish: ordförande (sv) c, juryordförande (sv) c

Anagrams

• foramen, name for