Bodiliness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality associated with having a tangible, physical form The state of existing in a corporeal manner and relating to physicality The aspect that embodies the nature of material existence in a bodily sense
2. The characteristic of possessing a tangible, fleshly form that can be sensed or touched
3. A measure of the state of being embodied or manifested in a material body

Etymology: "Bodiliness" is a plain English compound: "bodily" (an adjective built from "body" plus the suffix "-ly," meaning "of or relating to") with the suffix "-ness," which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality or state. Together they produce a noun for the condition of being bodily, or of being physical rather than abstract. The word's interest lies in the older pattern it belongs to. "Bodily" itself has been in use as an adjective since Old English, and "-ness" has been productive for just as long, so English speakers could form nouns like this whenever they needed one. "Bodiliness" is therefore less a coinage than a natural product of those two parts, and it fills a gap between "bodily" as a description and "physicality" or "corporeality" as more technical alternatives.

Synonyms: physicality, corporeality