womanly

English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

From Middle English womanly, wommanly, wommanlich, wummonlich, wommanlych, equivalent to woman +‎ -ly.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈwʊmənli/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Hyphenation: wom‧an‧ly
Audio (file)

Adjective

womanly (comparative womanlier, superlative womanliest)

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 1167497017:
  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, Sydney: Ure Smith, published 1962, OCLC 751607287, 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."
(rare) Female.

Antonyms

masculine, male, manly

Coordinate terms

girly

Derived terms

womanliness

Translations

having the characteristics of a woman

Arabic: نِسَوِيّ‎ (nisawiyy)
Aromanian: muljirescu
Belarusian: жано́чы (žanóčy), жано́цкі (žanócki)
Bulgarian: же́нствен (bg) (žénstven), же́нски (žénski)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 女子氣／女子气 (nǚzǐqì)
Czech: ženský (cs)
Danish: kvindelig (da)
Esperanto: virina (eo)
Finnish: naisellinen (fi)
French: féminin (fr)
Georgian: ქალური (kaluri), დედაკაცური (dedaḳacuri)
German: weiblich (de), fraulich (de)
Greek: γυναικείος (el) (gynaikeíos)
Hungarian: nőies (hu)
Indonesian: betina (id)
Irish: banúil
Middle Irish: banamail
Italian: femminile (it), femmineo (it) m, muliebre (it), donnesco m, femminino m
Japanese: 女らしい (おんならしい, onnarashii)
Korean: 여자답다 (yeojadapda), 녀자답다 (nyeojadapda) (North Korea)
Latin: muliebris (la)
Latvian: sievišķīgs, sievišķs, sieviešu
Macedonian: женствен (ženstven), женски (ženski)
Manx: benoil
Norwegian:
Bokmål: kvinnelig (no)
Nynorsk: kvinneleg
Old English: wīflīċ
Pashto: ښځينه‎ (ps) (ẍëźina)
Persian: زنانه‎ (fa) (zanâne)
Polish: kobiecy (pl), żeński (pl), babi (pl)
Portuguese: feminino (pt)
Romanian: feminin (ro), femeiesc (ro), muieresc (ro) (popular)
Russian: же́нственный (ru) (žénstvennyj), же́нский (ru) (žénskij) (feminine), женоподо́бный (ru) (ženopodóbnyj) (womanlike), ба́бий (ru) (bábij) (pejorative)
Scottish Gaelic: banail
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: жѐнскӣ
Roman: žènskī (sh)
Slovak: ženský (sk)
Slovene: ženski (sl)
Spanish: femenino (es), mujeril (es), femenil, femíneo (es) m, feminoide, amujerado m, adamado (es) m, ahembrado (es) m, afeminado (es) m
Swedish: kvinnlig (sv)
Tajik: занона (tg) (zanona)
Turkish: kadınsı (tr)
Ukrainian: жіно́чий (uk) (žinóčyj), жіно́чний (žinóčnyj), жіно́цький (žinócʹkyj), жінкоподі́бний (žinkopodíbnyj) (womanlike)
Yakut: дьахтардыы (caxtardıı)

Adverb

womanly (comparative more womanly, superlative most womanly)

In the manner of a woman.

Middle English

Adjective

womanly

Alternative form of wommanly