 Also, in American English, the expression "The Man", referring to "the oppressive powers that be", originated in the Southern United States in the 20th century, and became widespread in the urban underworld from the 1950s.Use of "man-" as a prefix and in composition usually denotes the generic meaning of "human", as in "mankind", "man-eating", "man-made", etc.In some instances, when modifying gender-neutral nouns, the prefix may also denote masculine gender, as in "manservant" (17th century).