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tribesman

tribesman

3 5.6
A man who belongs to a group with the same culture and way of life
  • noun
  • /ˈtraɪbzˌmæn/
translation icon : miembro de la tribu
  • The Hmong tribesman taught me in a little hut outside Vientiane.

Not only, not only overcoming my obstacles, it's, it's, it's my fellow tribesmen.

Examples

  • Part of any tribesman's job description is to maximize both the number of children and livestock.

    Academic text (2008)
  • As we reached the shade of a black goat-hair tent, a white-robed tribesman with shaky hands poured coffee from a long-spouted pot into a tiny handleless cup.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Oh, they made me an honorary tribesman.

  • It's the Nuer tribesman Harry noticed earlier.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • No tribesman had passed them in two days, and the trail had all but vanished beneath.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • A local tribesman, perhaps.

  • A tribesman ran breathless into the lot, tripping and landing facedown.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • I ask the driver, another Rind tribesman with an enormous handlebar mustache, to stop.

    Academic text (2003)
  • We tilt down to a tribesman dressed in skins edged with feathers who is perched high on a jagged peak.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • The Kikuyu tribesman shared stories of his ancestors around the evening fire.

Synonyms

clansman
vstribesman
1 8.1

A man who belongs to a family group with the same name and history, especially in Scotland or Ireland

is a male member of a traditional community rather than a regional kin group
tribesperson
vstribesman
6.5

A person who lives in a small community that shares the same customs

is male rather than gender-neutral
tribalist
vstribesman
8.8

A person who belongs to a traditional community and keeps its customs

is male and may be simply a member, not strongly identified

Surface Forms

tribesman singular
tribesmen plural

Morphology

tribesman = tribe + man (transparent) = tribe + man

A straightforward compound (tribe + man, with an interfix -s) whose meaning ('a man who is a member of a tribe') is directly predictable from its parts.

Etymology

Tribesman comes from tribe 'a group of people' and man 'a male person', so a tribesman is a man who belongs to a tribe.