Womanlinesses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality or state of possessing traditionally feminine traits or characteristics
2. A collection of attributes and behaviors that society often associates with women
3. The essence of being feminine, reflecting societal norms and expectations regarding womanhood

Etymology: "Womanlinesses" is the plural of "womanliness," a noun built from "womanly" and the suffix "-ness." The suffix has a long history in English: it descends from Old English "-nes," which turned adjectives into abstract nouns, so that "good" gave "goodness" and "wise" gave "wisdom"'s relatives. "Womanly" itself is formed from "woman" and "-ly," the adjective-making ending that goes back to a word meaning "body" or "form," which is why "-ly" once carried the sense of "having the appearance or quality of." The result is a word meaning the state or quality of being womanly. Because "womanliness" names an abstract quality, its plural is unusual: it treats each separate instance or display of that quality as a countable thing, so "womanlinesses" refers to the various traits or manifestations of womanly character that a person or culture might attribute to women.

Synonyms: femininity, womanhood