manhood

Etymology

It is formed from English man + -hood,^[2][3][4][5] first as inherited from Middle English manhede and manhode.^[5][4][6] The OED compares Middle Dutch manheit, Middle Low German manheit, Old High German manheit and the archaic German Mannheit, and notes that most of the English senses have parallels in those languages.^[2] In Old English, the words for this idea were less clearly masculine: manscipe (“humanity, courtesy”), while werhad (“male sex, virility”) was the more strictly "manly" word.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state or condition of being human, human nature, especially of Christ's human nature: about 1225, in the life of Saint Katherine.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word first meant humanity in general, not maleness: Christ's manhood was his human nature, and Johnson (1755) still put that sense first, quoting Raleigh and Milton.^[2][7] Etymonline dates the sense "manliness" from about 1300, covering qualities as varied as courage, courtesy and compassion.^[5] In Gower's Confessio Amantis (before 1393) it meant both the adult state of a man, as opposed to childhood, and courage or valour;^[2] Chaucer and Gower used it often in the sense of courage and nobility.^[6] A sense "homage", from the duty a vassal owed his lord, was used from 1340 to 1531, and "humaneness" from before 1425 to 1571.^[2][3] The contrast with womanhood appears in Shakespeare's Cymbeline (before 1616), the sense of men collectively in 1588, and the sense of sexual potency, extended to the male genitals, in 1640.^[2] Collins labels the last use jocular and the sense "being human" archaic.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – the state of being human, human nature.^[2]
• c. 1300 – manliness, the qualities thought fitting for a man.^[5]
• 1340 – homage (obsolete by 1531).^[2]
• before 1393 – the adult state of a man; courage, valour.^[2]
• 1588 – men collectively.^[2]
• before 1616 – the state of being a man rather than a woman.^[2]
• 1640 – sexual potency; the male genitals.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being an adult man, as opposed to childhood: He reached manhood during the war.^[4][8][2]
2. The qualities thought to belong to a man, such as courage and strength; manliness.^[4][8][2]
3. Men collectively, especially the men of a nation.^[8][2]
4. (informal) A man's virility, or his genitals.^[8][2]
5. (archaic) The condition of being human; human nature.^[8][4][2]

Related words

• boyhood
• girlhood
• childhood
• man
• womanhood
• manliness

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins