manner

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈmæn.ə/, US /ˈmæn.ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English manere,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman manere, Old French maniere “way of handling, fashion, method; bearing; custom”,^[4][2][5] from Vulgar Latin *manuāria,^[4][3][5] the feminine of Latin manuārius “belonging to the hand”,^[4][2][6] from manus “hand”,^[4][2][7] from Proto-Indo-European *man- (“hand”).^[4] The French word was also borrowed into Dutch and German as manier.^[4] It is related to manual, manage and manoeuvre.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Kind or sort: about 1200 in Etymonline,^[4] probably before 1200 in Barnhart, in the Ancrene Riwle, also “way of acting”.^[2] Customary mode of acting: before 1225 in the OED.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Most figurative meanings come from the original sense “method of handling”, extended when the word was used to translate Latin modus “method”.^[4][7] The way something is done is from about 1275,^[8] customary practice and a person's way of conducting himself from about 1300,^[4] and in the plural, polite social behaviour, from the 14th century.^[5][7] The way a work of art or literature is made is from the 1660s.^[4] Manner of speaking is from the 1530s.^[4] To the manner born, from Shakespeare's Hamlet (1602), means accustomed by birth to a practice, but has been misunderstood as to the manor born since at least the mid-19th century, manor being formerly also spelled manner.^[8][4][7] Mannered is from about 1378,^[2] and mannerism from 1803.^[2]

Timeline

• a. 1200 – a kind, a way of acting.^[2]
• c. 1275 – the way something is done.^[8]
• c. 1300 – customary practice.^[4]
• 14th century – manners, social behaviour.^[5]
• 1530s – manner of speaking.^[4]
• 1602 – to the manner born.^[8]
• 1660s – an artistic style.^[4]
• 1803 – mannerism.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The way in which something is done or happens.
2. A person's way of behaving toward others; bearing.
3. manners: polite social behaviour, or the customs of a society: table manners.
4. A kind or sort: all manner of things.
5. A characteristic style in art or literature.

Word family

• mannerless
• mannered
• mannerism
• mannerly
• bedside manner
• manner of articulation

Related words

• manual
• manage
• manoeuvre
• manor

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press