The old English word for man survives only in 'werewolf'
In Old English, mann meant any person, woman or child included. The word for an adult male was wer. When mann narrowed to its modern sense in Middle English, wer faded away, leaving traces only in werewolf, literally man-wolf, and wergild, the price paid for killing a man.
Man traces back to a Proto-Indo-European root with relatives in Sanskrit and Avestan manu- and Slavic words for husband or male. Biologically, a man usually inherits an X chromosome from his mother and a Y from his father. A gene on the Y chromosome called SRY triggers development of the testes, and male differentiation then proceeds through them, whereas female development does not depend on the gonads. Testosterone shapes the male reproductive tract, while anti-Müllerian hormone suppresses the ducts that would otherwise become female organs.
Puberty amplifies the differences. Men end up about 10 percent taller than women on average, heavier, and, adjusted for height, with more lean and bone mass and less fat. Their voices drop well below those of women and children, and they tend to have a ring finger longer than the index finger, while in women the two are closer in length or the index is slightly longer. The study of male reproduction is called andrology.
In every country with reliable records, and in every age group, men have shorter life expectancy than women. War is one reason: a study of conflicts in 13 countries between 1955 and 2002 found that 81 percent of violent war deaths were male. Areas with high violence, such as those controlled by drug cartels, also show higher male mortality. Traditional gender roles have steered men toward dangerous occupations, and it is mostly men who are conscripted.
Most men are cisgender, meaning their identity matches the sex assigned at birth. A 2016 systematic review estimated that 0.256 percent of people identify as transgender men. Masculinity, the set of traits associated with men, is partly socially constructed, though some research suggests certain masculine behaviours have biological roots, and the balance between the two remains debated.
Source: Man
