Where does the term ladylike come from?

Your grandmother might praise your best friend's ladylike demeanor, not knowing that in her spare time she drives a demolition derby car and is usually covered with mud. Before ladylike was first used in the sixteenth century, the equivalent adjective was ladily.

What does it mean to be called ladylike?

(leɪdilaɪk ) adjective. If you say that a woman or girl is ladylike, you mean that she behaves in a polite, dignified, and graceful way. I hate to be blunt, Frankie, but she just didn't strike me as being very ladylike.