US /ˈbʊʃmən/ UK /ˈbʊʃmən/
noun Freq #54055

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    dated, often capitalized: a member of one of the San peoples of southern Africa; San or a specific community name is generally preferred

    The museum retained Bushman only inside the historical quotation and identified the community as San in its caption.

  2. 2
    noun

    a person who lives or works in remote bush country, especially the Australian outback, and is experienced in its conditions

    The veteran bushman could find water and navigate across the dry interior.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 noun · dated, often capitalized: a... San person
2 noun · a person who lives or works... bush workerbushcrafteroutback resident
Word family
Derived forms bushcraft
Related forms SanKalaharioutbackbushcraft

Etymology

Formed from bush + man. Europeans applied the capitalized term to San peoples of southern Africa, while Australian English developed the separate sense 'a person experienced in the bush.' The ethnic label is now often considered dated; specific community names are preferable.

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