womanly

• womonly, womynly (rare feminist spellings; see usage notes at woman)

• IPA^(key): /ˈwʊmənli/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: wom‧an‧ly

• Audio:

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From Middle English womanly, wommanlich, wommanly, wommanlych, wummonlich, equivalent to woman +‎ -ly (adjectival suffix).^[1]

womanly (comparative womanlier, superlative womanliest)

1. Considered typical of, stereotypical of, or appropriate to women; feminine.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     I know that the sound of it moved me more even than her words, it was so very human - so very womanly.

   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 149:

     "What I mean, a woman who doesn't go in for booze and sport and cigarettes. Man gets sick of these tough flappers. Give me a womanly woman every time. As I said before, I could see at a glance that you were a thoroughly womanly woman."

2. (rare) Female.

• masculine, male, manly

• girly

• womanliness

From Middle English wommanliche, wommanly, equivalent to woman +‎ -ly (adverbial suffix).^[2]

womanly

1. In the manner of a woman.

   Synonym: (rare) womanlily

   Coordinate term: manly

womanly

1. alternative form of wommanly