Other forms: ferrymen
A ferryman is somebody who takes people across water in a boat. The ferryman's fee, wait for the ferryman, an old ferryman.
Every river crossing had one before bridges, and many English villages called Ferry are named for a service that stopped a century ago. In Greek myth the ferryman Charon took the dead across the Styx for a coin.
1nounferrymanSomebody who takes people across water in a boat.
“The ferryman waited on the far bank until we rang the bell for him.”
ferryman is a boatman.
Proto-Indo-European
*per-
Proto-Germanic
*farjaną
Proto-West Germanic
*farjan
Old English
ferian
Middle English
ferien — to carry, convey
English
ferry
English, today
ferryman
Built from
From ferry + -man. ferry The verb is from Middle English ferien (“to carry, convey”), from Old English ferian, from Proto-West Germanic farjan, from Proto-Germanic farjaną, which see for cognates. This verb is the causative of faraną (“to go, travel”), whence fare; ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European - root per-. The noun is from Middle English ferie (“place of crossing, ferry”), which was derived from the above verb under influence of Old Norse ferja, from farjǭ, itself also from the verb. ferō.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA