manhood
pronunciation
How to pronounce manhood in British English:
UK [ˈmænhʊd]
How to pronounce manhood in American English:
US [ˈmænˌhʊd]
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- Noun:
- the state of being a man; manly qualities
- the quality of being human
- the status of being a man
Word Origin
- manhood (n.)
- early 13c., "state of being human," from man (n.) + -hood. Meanings "state of being an adult male," also "manliness," are from late 14c. Similar words in Old English were less explicitly masculine: manscipe "humanity, courtesy," literally "man-ship;" mennisclicnes "state of man, humanity, humaneness, human nature." The more "manly" word was werhad "male sex, virility, manhood" (see first element in werewolf).
Example
- 1. Strong mothers give their sons a range of models for manhood .
- 2. The academic feminists think their nerdy bookworm husbands are the ideal model of human manhood .
- 3. Sandra has had her hair cut short and has begun to wear more masculine clothes as a way of reclaiming her lost manhood .
- 4. In this remote fishing village , manhood means spending half of every year on a boat near alaska , winching up crab pots from the freezing depths of the bering sea .
- 5. Some pupils at catholic schools in lancashire recently received a sex-education pamphlet entitled " pure manhood : how to become the man god wants you to be " .