Womanly describes a woman who behaves, dresses, or looks in the way people traditionally expect of a grown woman — soft, graceful, warm, motherly, dignified. "A womanly figure", "a womanly voice", "womanly patience". It is intended as a compliment. Compare it with two neighbours. Female is a plain biological fact, no feeling attached. Feminine is close to womanly but leans towards style and appearance — pink, lace, delicate things — and can be used about clothes, colours, and even men. Womanly leans more towards character and maturity: it says grown woman, not girl. That is a key point. Calling a teenage girl womanly usually means she now looks or acts like an adult woman. There is also a rarer adverb, womanly, meaning "in the manner of a woman", but you can safely leave that one alone; it is very old. Like womanliness, the word rests on an old picture of how a woman ought to be, so some readers today hear it as a bit dated or even limiting, even though the speaker means it warmly.