man-month

Q: Where does man-month come from?

Compound of man + month, although, as with any such unit of measure (e.g., pack-years, newton metres), the mathematical relationship of multiplication is simultaneously involved: X men working during Y months = X × Y = Z man-months.

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: 5.15 in modern English

Syllables: man--month
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Meaning

noun

One person's working time for a month, or the equivalent, used as a measure of how much work or labor is required or consumed to perform some task.

Example Sentences

"Holonyms: man-year, person-year"
"Meronyms: man-hour, person-hour < man day, person-day"
"In project management, there is always another dimbulb who will ask whether the relationship of man-months to calendar months is such that the schedule can be cut in half by doubling the headcount. The standard joke for disabusing this nonsense involves an expedited pregnancy lasting four and a half months instead of nine."
"Experience seems to indicate that developing such a TeX interface for a new output device takes on the order of one man-month."

Etymology

Compound of man + month, although, as with any such unit of measure (e.g., pack-years, newton metres), the mathematical relationship of multiplication is simultaneously involved: X men working during Y months = X × Y = Z man-months.

Inflected Forms

man-months (plural)

Synonyms

person-month