Manner

How to spell manner

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce manner

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does manner mean?

1. nounThe way in which something is done or happens.
2. nounA person's customary way of behaving towards others, especially in terms of politeness.
3. nounA kind or sort of thing, usually in the phrase 'all manner of'.

Manner in a sentence

• The report describes the manner in which the funds were spent.

• His polished manner put the nervous clients at ease.

• The cluttered drawer held all manner of pens, clips, and keys.

• She answered every question in a calm and confident manner.

• The interviewer was struck by her warm and professional manner.

• The festival offered every manner of street food.

Where does manner come from?

Language of origin: French

The word arrived in English in the 1200s from the Old French maniere, meaning 'a way of doing something' or 'a custom'. That noun grew out of the Vulgar Latin phrase manuaria, a use of the Latin adjective manuarius, 'belonging to the hand', which itself traces back to manus, the Latin word for 'hand'. The link to the hand is the key to the idea: a person's manner was originally the handy or practised way in which they did things, and from there the sense broadened to cover behaviour, custom, and style. The plural 'manners' came to mean polite social conduct by the late Middle Ages. The everyday relatives 'manual', 'manage', and 'manipulate' all share the same manus root, which is a useful reminder that manner is built on 'man' and not on 'man-or'; its homophone 'manor', a landed estate, comes from a different Latin word, manere 'to remain', so the two are best kept apart in writing.

How the word is built

• manner (from Old French maniere, ultimately Latin manus 'hand')
• -er (noun ending)

Words that sound like manner

They sound the same but mean different things, so the meaning decides which spelling to write.

• manor: A large country house together with the land and estate historically attached to it.