manliness

/ˈmænlɪnəs/

//ˈmænlɪnəs// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"manliness" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“manliness” is uncommon English (frequency #51,236 among 4,057 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#51,236
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The quality of being manly; the set of qualities, traits and abilities considered appropriate to men (as opposed to women or children); similarity to a man.

Corpus desk

Index EN-manliness · manliness · English

manliness · rank #51,236 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #51,236
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Manitowoc

Nearest frequency peer: Manitowoc (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “manliness”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “manliness” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for manliness
PropertyValue
Headwordmanliness
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmænlɪnəs/
Letters9
Frequency rank#51,236
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “manliness” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).manlinessfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Manitowoc” (#51,235), “marinara” (#51,237), “marmite” (#51,238). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “manliness” is #51,236. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

manliness is uncommon English at frequency #51,236 among 4,057 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈmænlɪnəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for manliness in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English manlynes, manlynesse. By surface analysis, manly + -ness. The correct English form is manliness, spelled M-A-N-L-I-N-E-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    The quality of being manly; the set of qualities, traits and abilities considered appropriate to men (as opposed to women or children); similarity to a man.
  2. 2
    Male genitals.
  3. 3
    Humanity, the quality of being human.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how manliness appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Nought under Heaven so strongly doth allure The Sense of Man, and all his Mind possess, As Beauty’s lovely Bait, that doth procure Great Warriors oft their Rigour to repress; And mighty Hands forget their Manliness,
  2. With louder plaints the mother spoke her woes, And blessed the cot where every pleasure rose; And kissed her thoughtless babes with many a tear, And clasped them close, in sorrow doubly dear; Whilst her fond husband strove to lend relief In all the silent manliness of grief.

Etymology

From Middle English manlynes, manlynesse. By surface analysis, manly + -ness.

This word in other languages

hombría(Español)masculinité(Français)Männlichkeit(Deutsch)hombridade(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "manliness"?
"manliness" is spelled M-A-N-L-I-N-E-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmænlɪnəs/.
What does "manliness" mean?
As a noun, "manliness" means: The quality of being manly; the set of qualities, traits and abilities considered appropriate to men (as opposed to women or children); similarity to a man.
How do you pronounce "manliness"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "manliness" is /ˈmænlɪnəs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "manliness"?
From Middle English manlynes, manlynesse. By surface analysis, manly + -ness. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "manliness", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Manitowoc#51,235macadamia#51,228midwinter#51,247letterbox#51,217

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list