womanhood

Etymology

It is formed from English woman + -hood.^[2][3][4][5] The Middle English forms included wommanhede^[6][7] and womanhod.^[4][8][7] The OED compares womanhead and the earlier wifehood.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Women considered together, womankind: about 1405, in the Hengwrt manuscript of Chaucer's Man of Law's Tale (composed about 1390).^[2] Etymonline dates both the word and this sense to the late 14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Chaucer used the word 15 times and Gower 24 times, for womanliness, the qualities proper to a woman.^[7] The OED records the sense "the state of being a woman rather than a man" from Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (manuscript before 1413) and the sense "womanly character or qualities" from the Legend of Good Women (manuscript about 1430).^[2] The sense "the state of being a grown woman rather than a girl" followed in 1608.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1405 – women collectively; womankind.^[2]
• before 1413 – the state of being a woman rather than a man.^[2]
• c. 1430 – the qualities traditionally attributed to women; womanliness.^[2]
• 1608 – the state of being a grown woman; the time of life after girlhood.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state or time of being an adult woman: She had grown from a shy girl into confident womanhood.^[9][10][2]
2. The state of being a woman rather than a man.^[2][4][3]
3. The qualities thought of as typical of women; womanliness.^[9][4][2]
4. Women as a group; womankind.^{[10][4][9][2]}

Related words

• girlhood
• boyhood
• childhood
• woman
• manhood
• womankind
• womanly

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
8. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
9. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins