'withdrawnly' originates from English, specifically formed by adding the adverbial suffix '-ly' to the adjective 'withdrawn', where 'withdrawn' is the past participle of 'withdraw' and the prefix/root elements 'with-' meant 'away' and 'draw' (from Old English 'dragan') meant 'to pull or draw'.

'withdraw' comes from Old English 'withdragan' (with- 'away' + dragan 'to draw'); it passed into Middle English as forms such as 'withdrawe' and produced the past participle 'withdrawn', which later took the adverb-forming suffix '-ly' (from Old English '-lic' / Middle English '-ly') to form 'withdrawnly'.

Initially related to the literal sense 'drawn away' or 'moved away', the participial adjective 'withdrawn' developed the figurative sense 'emotionally reserved or detached'; 'withdrawnly' now means 'in a reserved or emotionally distant manner'.