section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  The spelling of woman in English has progressed over the past millennium from wīfmann to wīmmann to wumman, and finally, the modern spelling woman. In Old English, mann had the gender-neutral meaning of ' human ', akin to the Modern ' person ' or ' someone '. The word for ' woman ' was wīf or wīfmann (lit. ' woman-person ') whereas ' man ' was wer or wǣpnedmann (from wǣpn ' weapon; penis '). However, following the Norman Conquest, man began to mean ' male human ', and by the late 13th century it had largely replaced wer. The consonants /f/ and /m/ in wīfmann coalesced into the modern woman, while wīf narrowed to specifically mean a married woman (' wife ').
  
  It is a popular misconception that the term "woman" is etymologically connected to "womb". "Womb" derives from the Old English word wamb meaning ' belly, uterus ' (cognate to the modern German colloquial term " Wamme " from Old High German wamba for ' belly, paunch, lap ').