What does bodily mean?
Bodily is an English adjective meaning of or relating to the body, especially in contrast to the mind, soul, or emotions. It appears frequently in discussions of health, law, and philosophy — phrases such as bodily harm, bodily fluids, and bodily autonomy are common in legal, medical, and public-health language. Bodily can also function adverbially to describe something moved or taken as a single physical whole: 'The crowd carried him bodily from the hall' suggests he was picked up and removed intact, by sheer physical force, rather than walking out or being escorted piece by piece. Derived from the Old English word for the body combined with the suffix -ly, the word carries a slightly more formal tone than plain 'physical,' yet remains widely understood. Its dual roles — describing what pertains to the body and conveying whole-bodied physical action — make it both precise and expressive.
Of or relating to the body, as distinct from the mind, soul, or emotions.
"The athlete's bodily condition was assessed before the season began."
Common in medical, legal, and philosophical writing; pairs readily with terms like 'harm,' 'functions,' and 'autonomy.'
In one's physical person or as a complete physical whole; often describing forceful movement of an entire object or person without division.
"They hoisted the crate bodily onto the truck."
Say 'they carried it bodily up the stairs' and you mean the whole thing, every last ounce of it — bodily is how English says 'all of it, physically.'
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bodily
Bodily derives from the Old English noun 'bodig' (body) combined with the adjectival suffix '-ly', forming a compound that has existed in English since its early medieval period. It belongs to a small family of words built on the same root, including 'body' itself, 'embody', and 'embodiment', all tracing back to that Germanic ancestor rather than to Latin or Greek. Unlike many English words borrowed from French or Latin, bodily is native in origin, which gives it a distinctly Germanic pedigree among English vocabulary for physical description.
How bodily is actually used
The adjective sense appears in both formal and everyday registers, particularly in medical, legal, and philosophical contexts. The adverbial sense ('moved bodily') is somewhat literary or formal but vivid, emphasising that something is moved as an unbroken whole rather than taken apart or dealt with abstractly.
Easily confused with bodily
Boldly means with courage or confidence, while bodily relates to the physical body or to moving something as a whole physical object.
Body is the noun referring to a person's or animal's physical structure, whereas bodily is an adjective describing things pertaining to that structure.