Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A Japanese corporate businessman.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Anglicization of Japanese sarariman, salaried man : English salary + English man.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From salary +‎ man, later after Japanese サラリーマン (sararīman) (itself from English).

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Examples

  • The term salaryman refers exclusively to males, and for females the term career woman is used.

    News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com) 2010

  • Astonishingly, Mr. Kikuchi - whose thin and muscular build is at odds with his long career behind a desk as a corporate "salaryman"- held on for 14 hours, from 3 p.m. that day until dawn the morning after.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Mark MacKinnon 2011

  • The trademark of the salaryman is his conservative dark suit, called a sebiro in Japanese, which probably came from the English word "civil" since they are civilian clothes, i.e. not a military uniform.

    Anime Nano! 2008

  • They have to be a parody of the kind of salaryman concerns you see in things like Shima Kôsaku.

    Néojaponisme » Blog Archive » Tsui no sumika 2010

  • After graduating college, he became a "salaryman" at Maruzen Oil Co., the predecessor to Cosmo Oil Co.

    Fukuda's Low-Key Style 2008

  • Incidentally, I don't see my husband that often because he's always working (he's a "salaryman"), so in my case, marriage is more like chocolate cake every weekend for the rest of my life, which sounds pretty good to me.

    Archive 2005-03-01 2005

  • "I lead two separate lives -- during the day, I'm a full-time 'salaryman' in a web design company, but at night I come to '2-chome' to work here as a barman," said Yuu, who declined to give his last name.

    PageOneQ.com Latest 2010

  • "I lead two separate lives -- during the day, I'm a full-time 'salaryman' in a web design company, but at night I come to '2-chome' to work here as a barman," said Yuu, who declined to give his last name.

    canada.com Top Stories 2010

  • It's been the sarariman, or "salaryman", for years and years.

    Sourcing Innovation the doctor 2010

  • "Tokyo Sonata" - "The master of Japanese chills," Kiyoshi Kurosawa departs from his specialty for this domestic drama about the intricate lies a "salaryman" who loses his job creates to protect his family.

    JSOnline.com 2009

Comments

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  • Used in the book World War Z sections with "oral history" from Japan.

    April 18, 2011