What does vanmen mean?
Vanmen is the plural of vanman and is normally a plural-only form rather than an independently declined noun. In British usage, a vanman is a man who lives in a van, so vanmen refers to several men living in vans. In American usage, the term denotes traveling salesmen, especially those who call on customers from their vehicles. The singular vanman normally provides the grammatical description when only one person is meant, whereas vanmen is used with a determiner or numeral to refer to more than one. The word has a practical, slightly occupational flavor and is uncommon in contemporary prose, though it may appear in discussions of mobile living, itinerant work, or the social history of van culture. Its interest is lexical as well as cultural: the simple compound formed from van and man preserves two distinct regional senses that are not obvious from the plural form alone.
noun (plural only)The plural of vanman. In British English it means men who live in vans; in American English it means traveling salesmen.
- In British English, vanmen is the plural of vanman, meaning men who live in vans.
- In American English, vanmen is the plural of vanman, meaning traveling salesmen.
"The vanmen outside the depot had turned their vehicles into mobile workshops."
"Several vanmen had made the old railway yard their temporary home."
"The vanmen called on the wholesale buyer before lunch."
The standard plural of vanman. The word is normally used in the plural only.
"Two vanmen parked beside the market and began arranging their samples."
The plural-only vanmen belongs to both a mobile home and a mobile office—depending on which side of the Atlantic you’re on.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of vanmen
Vanmen is the regular plural of vanman, a compound formed from van and man. The word van was shortened from caravan, which was borrowed through French and ultimately derives from the Persian kārvān, denoting a caravan or company of travelers. Vanman is a much more recent compound and therefore has no substantial independent history, although its components ultimately share the same Persian-derived origin as caravan and caravanserai.
Related word forms
How vanmen is actually used
Vanmen is normally a plural-only form, with vanman as its singular. It is uncommon in contemporary general usage, and its meaning depends heavily on regional context.