manliness

Etymology

It is formed from English manly + -ness,^[2][3][4] first recorded as Middle English manlines or manlinesse.^[4][3] The adjective manly is formed from man and -ly, and is cognate with or formed like Middle Low German manlīk, Old High German manlīh (now männlich) and Old Norse mannligr.^[2][3] The Old English word for "manly, masculine" was werlic.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Humanity, human kindness: in the early Wycliffite Bible (c. 1384), a sense that the OED takes from the adjective's sense "human" and that died out by about 1500.^[2] The 1989 edition of the OED had a first date of 1375 for the sense "manly vigour".^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the two senses of manly, which in Middle English meant both "human" and "having the virtues proper to a man".^[2][3] The first, humanity or human kindness, was obsolete after the 15th century;^[2] the second, manly qualities such as strength, courage and hardiness, as opposed to those of women or children, is recorded from about 1450 and is the modern sense.^[2] Etymonline glosses it, for the late 14th century, as character or conduct worthy of a man: boldness, courage, humanity.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "dignity; bravery; stoutness".^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1384 – humanity, human kindness (obsolete by 1500).^[2]
• c. 1450 – manly qualities: strength, courage, hardiness; also virility.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being manly; the strength, courage and steadiness traditionally expected of a man: He thought crying in public was no sign of a lack of manliness.^[4][2][6]
2. (obsolete, 1384–1500) Humanity, human kindness.^[2][5]

Related words

• manly
• man
• manhood
• mannish

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.