Other forms: chairmen
A chairman is the person who leads a meeting or heads a company board. The one who decides who speaks.
The role is real and procedural, since a chairman keeps order, follows the agenda and often holds a casting vote. The word is changing, and chair, chairperson and chairwoman are all in use, with chair now the commonest in British organisations because it avoids assuming the sex of the holder. Mr Chairman and Madam Chairman survive in formal meetings. The verb is to chair a meeting.
1nounchairmanThe person who leads a meeting or heads a board.
“The chairman called the meeting to order.”
Proto-Indo-European
*sed-
Middle English
chayere
English
chair
English, today
chairman
Built from
From chair + -man. chair comes from Middle English chayere. From Middle English chayere, chayer, chayre, from Old French chaiere, chaere, from Latin cathedra (“seat”), from Ancient Greek καθέδρα, from κατά (“down”) + ἕδρα (“seat”). Partially displaced native stool and settle, which now have more specialised senses. a doublet of cathedra and chaise.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA