Other forms: manners
Manner is the way somebody behaves or does a thing. Not what was done — how.
It covers personal bearing, so a brusque manner or a gentle manner describes how somebody comes across, and a doctor's bedside manner is a professional quality. The plural means etiquette, and having good manners is a separate idea entirely. There is a formal phrase in in a manner of speaking, which softens a claim, and all manner of things simply means every kind.
1nounmannerThe way in which somebody behaves towards others.
“He has a very abrupt manner on the telephone.”
2noundoneThe way in which something is done.
“The work was carried out in a professional manner.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
Manner is handling. Latin manuarius meant belonging to the hand, from manus, so the way you do a thing was first of all the way you handled it.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)meh₂-
Latin
manuarius — belonging to the hand
Vulgar Latin
*manāria
Old French
maniere
Anglo-Norman
manere
Middle English
manere
English, today
manner
Built from
From Middle English manere, maner, 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. Displaced native Old English hād (“nature, manner”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA