Oarswomen

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A female individual who rows a boat or participates in rowing competitions
2. An athlete who steers and propels a vessel using oars while racing on water
3. A member of a rowing team distinguished by their gender, actively engaged in the sport of rowing

Etymology: "Oarswomen" is the plural of "oarswoman", and the word is built from three familiar parts. The first is "oar", the long pole used to propel a boat. The second is an "-s-" linking element, a joining sound that appears in compounds of this kind. The third is "woman", which is itself a compound that goes back through Old English "wīfmann", literally "female person" or "wife-man", where "wīf" meant woman and "mann" meant person. Each piece is old, but the whole is a modern formation. It was assembled in English from these native materials, so there is no Latin or French route to trace here. The word was made to name women who row, a need that appeared as women's rowing developed as a sport.

Synonyms: rowers, boatwomen, scullers, crew members, athletes