czowiek

Człowiek is a Polish noun meaning a human being, a person, or a man in general. The form czowiek without the diacritic ł is not standard Polish and is generally regarded as a misspelling or result of typing without diacritics; the correct spelling is człowiek. The word denotes an individual member of the species Homo sapiens and is masculine in grammatical gender.

Etymology and cognates: Człowiek is derived from the Proto-Slavic root člověkъ. It has cognates in many Slavic languages, such as Czech člověk and Russian человек (chelovek), reflecting a shared historical term for a person.

Usage and nuance: In ordinary speech, człowiek refers to a single person and can convey informal or colloquial nuance; phrases include dobry człowiek (a good person) or człowiek pracy (the working man). For formal or general references to a person, osoba is often preferred. When speaking of humanity as a whole, człowiek can denote humankind in philosophical or literary contexts. In plural, the common word for people is ludzie; człowiek appears mainly in the singular or in fixed expressions.