Manned

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /mænd/

Definitions

1. Controlled by human presence for operation and oversight
2. Being controlled or operated with humans present to handle tasks or oversee functions
3. Having personnel on site to manage or run equipment, processes, or missions

Etymology: "Manned" is the past form of "man," so its history is the history of the verb, and that verb goes back to a word meaning simply "person." Old English "mann" could refer to any human being, and it was not until much later that the word narrowed to mean an adult male. Its cognates across the Germanic languages, such as German "Mann," Dutch "man," and Swedish "man," show the same double sense of "human" and "husband" that the word carried for centuries. Only the verb's meaning of "to supply with people" or "to staff" developed later, as English speakers began using "man" as a verb for equipping a ship, fort, or workplace with crew. The adjective sense, "operated by people," follows naturally from that, describing a machine or vehicle that has a person in control, as opposed to one that runs automatically.

Synonyms: staffed, operated, controlled, run, handled

Antonyms: unmanned, abandoned, deserted, vacant, empty