dairyman

IPA/ˈdeərimən/
IPA/ˈderimən/

dairyman — noun

  • dairymansingular
  • dairymenplural

1. a male worker who looks after the cows or runs the business of a place that prod

1.nounC1
Definition

a male worker who looks after the cows or runs the business of a place that produces and sells milk, cheese, or butter.

Example

Eli started his shift as a dairyman at four to milk the herd.

typical agent role: dairyman + early-morning milking routine

The dairyman delivered fresh bottles of milk to every house along the village street.

collocation: dairyman + deliver fresh milk

Common collocations
  • local dairyman
  • village dairyman
  • old dairyman
Synonyms
  • dairy farmer

    gender-neutral and far more common in modern English

  • milkman

    narrower — focuses on the man who delivers milk to homes, not on running the farm

  • cowherd

    older word; emphasises tending cattle in the field, not running a dairy

Usage Note

Refers specifically to a male worker; female counterpart is 'dairymaid' or the gender-neutral 'dairy farmer / dairy worker', which are now more common in everyday writing.

Common Mistakes

My sister works as a dairyman on the farm.
My sister works as a dairy farmer on the farm.
'dairyman' is masculine; use 'dairy farmer' or 'dairy worker' for women or in neutral contexts.

Word family

  • dairy
    nounB1
  • dairymaid
    nounC2
  • dairy farmer
    nounB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words involve milk-producing animals, but the focus differs. 'Dairyman' is the traditional, slightly old-fashioned word for a man who runs or works at a dairy — both tending the cows and handling the milk. 'Dairy farmer' is the modern, gender-neutral choice and the safest term in current writing; it stresses the farming side. 'Milkman' is narrower: the person, usually a man, who delivers bottles of milk from door to door — a city or suburban job, not farm work. 'Cowherd' is older still and rural; it points at the act of looking after cattle in the field, with no implication of producing dairy goods for sale. So a dairyman might also be a dairy farmer, and may once have done the milkman's round, but a cowherd is only out with the herd.

dairyman ↗dairy farmermilkman ↗cowherd

Common collocations

Nouns

  • village dairyman
  • local dairyman
  • family dairyman

Phrases

  • the old dairyman
  • the village dairyman's round

Prepositions

  • work as a dairyman
  • be hired by a dairyman

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Formed in English from 'dairy' + '-man'. 'Dairy' itself comes from Middle English 'daierie', built on Old English 'dæge' meaning a female servant who kneaded dough or handled milk, plus the place-suffix '-ery'. The compound 'dairyman' has been used since at least the seventeenth century to name a man who runs or works at such a place.