manner

From Middle English maner, manere, from Anglo-Norman manere, from Old French maniere, from Vulgar Latin *manāria, from feminine of Latin manuarius (“belonging to the hand”), from manus (“hand”). Compare French manière, Italian mannaia (“ax, axe”), Portuguese maneira and maneiro (“handy, portable”), Romanian mâner (“handle”), and Spanish manera.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmænə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmænɚ/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ænə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: man‧ner
• Homophones: manor, manna

manner (plural manners)

1. Mode of action; way of performing or doing anything
   • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     The treacherous manner of his mournful death.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.

2. Characteristic mode of acting or behaving; bearing

   His natural manner makes him seem like the boss.

   • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond‎:

     During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]

   • 2014 November 14, Blake Bailey, “'Tennessee Williams,' by John Lahr [print version: Theatrical victory of art over life, International New York Times, 18 November 2014, p. 13]”, in The New York Times‎:

     [S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams' play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible.

3. One's customary method of acting; habit.

   These people have strange manners.

4. Good, polite behaviour.
   • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 4, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:

     Harriet was not insensible of manner; she had voluntarily noticed her father’s gentleness with admiration as well as wonder. Mr. Martin looked as if he did not know what manner was.

   • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

     But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.

5. The style of writing or thought of an author; the characteristic peculiarity of an artist.
6. A certain degree or measure.

   It is in a manner done already.

7. Sort; kind; style.

   All manner of persons participate.

8. Standards of conduct cultured and product of mind.

(mode of action): method; style; form; fashion; way

• mander

From Proto-Finnic *mandër. Cognate with Finnish manner, Ingrian mantere, and Ludian mander. Compare also Udmurt мудор (mudor, “a mythical creature”) and archaic Komi-Zyrian [script needed] (mudör, “foundation”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑnːer/

manner (genitive mandri, partitive mandrit)

1. continent
2. mainland

   Saarlased vahest käivad ka mandril.

   The people of Saaremaa sometimes also go to the mainland.

The definition of manner in Estonian includes 6 continents: Africa (Aafrika), Antarctica (Antarktis), Australia (Austraalia), Eurasia (Euraasia), North America (Põhja-Ameerika), and South America (Lõuna-Ameerika).

• maailmajagu

• mantere (not as common)

From Proto-Finnic *mandër, from Proto-Finno-Permic [Term?] or possibly from Proto-Finnic *maa. Equivalent to *mante +‎ -re. Cognate to Estonian mander and Veps mandreh.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑnːer/, [ˈmɑ̝nːe̞r]
• Rhymes: -ɑnːer
• Syllabification^(key): man‧ner

manner

1. mainland (main landmass of a country, continent or sometimes of a group of islands)
   • 1933, Bible, Ezekiel 26:6:

     Sen tytärkaupungit, jotka ovat mantereella, surmataan miekalla, ja he tulevat tietämään, että minä olen Herra.

     Also her daughters who are on the mainland will be slain by the sword, and they will know that I am the Lord.

   • 1916, Anni Swan, Iris rukka [Poor Iris], WSOY:

     Hän kuvitteli mielessään, kuinka Taneli hiihtää mantereelle, ja kuinka uteliaat kaikki olivat näkemään käärön sisällystä.

     She imagined in her mind how Taneli would ski to the mainland and how everybody would be curious to see the contents of the scroll.

2. (geology) continent

   mannerjalusta ― continental shelf

   Määritelmästä riippuen mantereita on neljä, viisi, kuusi tai seitsemän.

   Depending on definition there are four, five, six or seven continents.

• maanosa
• tanner
• kinner
• mantu

Itkonen, Erkki, Kulonen, Ulla-Maija, editors (1992–2000), Suomen sanojen alkuperä [The origin of Finnish words]‎ (in Finnish) (online version; note: also includes other etymological sources), Helsinki: Institute for the Languages of Finland/Finnish Literature Society, →ISBN

• “manner”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

manner

1. comparative degree of mann