woman (n.)

the Old English word from which woman is taken (wif-man) came from wif (female) plus man (Old English for human being). Women continued to be female human beings, which is fairly decent, but the word for male human beings (wer-man) was gradually lost (it survives only in werewolf) and men got to be human beings, period, full stop, no qualifications for sex. Although suggestions are made from time to time to replace the word woman, it appears to be solidly positioned in the language. The problem with woman is really man (when used to mean everyone when everyone knows it doesn't). When human being is used for everyone, man for adult males, and woman for adult females, the word woman is respected, acceptable, and in every way equal to the word man. A neat if facile summary of female-male issues might be Theodor Reik's maxim: "In our civilization, men are afraid that they will not be men enough and women are afraid that they might be considered only women." See also farm wife/farmer's wife, female (n.), girlfriend, lady (adj.), lady (n.), prostitute, wife, wimmin/wimyn/womon/womyn, woman (adj.).