Wiktionary

birth

EnglishEdit

 
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PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English birthe (1250), from earlier burthe, burde,[1] from Old Norse burðr, byrd[2] (Old Swedish byrth, Swedish börd), replacing Old English ġebyrd (rare variant byrþ)[3], equivalent to bear +‎ -th (compare also berth). The Old Norse is from Proto-Germanic *burdiz (compare Old Frisian berde, berd); Old English ġebyrd is from prefixed *gaburþiz (compare Dutch geboorte, German Geburt), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥tis (compare Latin fors (“luck”), Old Irish brith), from *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”). More at bear.

NounEdit

 
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birth (countable and uncountable, plural births)

  1. (uncountable) The process of childbearing; the beginning of life.
  2. (countable) An instance of childbirth.
    Intersex babies account for roughly one per cent of all births.
  3. (countable) A beginning or start; a point of origin.
    the birth of an empire
  4. (uncountable) The circumstances of one's background, ancestry, or upbringing.
    He was of noble birth, but fortune had not favored him.
    • 1843, William H. Prescott, History Of The Conquest Of Mexico And History Of The Conquest Of Peru‎[1], The Modern Library, page 42:
      without reference to birth, but solely for their qualifications
    • 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:
      Lucy […] had no fortune, which, though a minor evil, was an evil; and she had no birth, in the high-life sense of the word, which was a greater evil.
  5. That which is born.
    • 1692, Ben Jonson, “Epigrams”, in The Works of Ben Jonson‎[2], page 288:
      That poets are far rarer births than kings.
    • 1761, Joseph Addison, The Works of Joseph Addison‎[3], volume 3, John Baskerville, page 49:
      Others hatch their eggs and tend the birth till it is able to shift for itself.
  6. Misspelling of berth.
    • 1816, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Mansfield Park, second edition, volume III, London: […] J[ohn] Murray, […], page 151:
      “[…] She lays close to the Endymion, between her and the Cleopatra, just to the eastward of the sheer hulk.” “Ha!” cried William, “that’s just where I should have put her myself. It’s the best birth at Spithead. […]”
AntonymsEdit
  • (beginning of life): death
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

AdjectiveEdit

birth (not comparable)

  1. A familial relationship established by childbirth.
    Her birth father left when she was a baby; she was raised by her mother and stepfather.
SynonymsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English birthen, birðen, from the noun (see above).

VerbEdit

birth (third-person singular simple present births, present participle birthing, simple past and past participle birthed)

  1. (transitive) To bear or give birth to (a child).
    • 1939, Sidney Howard, Ben Hecht, Jo Swerling, John Van Druten, Oliver H.P. Garrett, Gone with the Wind (film):
      I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!
    • 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:
      Kelly: Is it true we have a pod containing a baby krogan down in the cargo hold?
      Shepard: Not a baby. He's a full-grown super soldier ready for combat.
      Kelly: Please be careful if you decide to... err... birth him? His personality is completely unknown.
    • 2023 March 5, Jonathan Bouquet, “May I have a word about… being stuck in a permacrisis”, in The Observer‎[4], →ISSN:
      She cites some recent examples from the papers: “I birthed two babies in rapid succession”; Beyoncé “birthed her twins”; while somewhere else in the same paper a woman proudly proclaimed: “I birthed a calf!”. She ends: “My objection to the American usage is that it seems to stress rather crudely the muscular process of bringing forth a baby, whereas the graceful British English term ‘to give birth to’ is much more dignified!”
  2. (transitive, figuratively) To produce, give rise to.
    • 2006, R. Bruce Hull, Infinite Nature‎[5], University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 156:
      Biological evolution created a human mind that enabled cultural evolution, which now outpaces and outclasses the force that birthed it.
Usage notesEdit
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
ReferencesEdit
  1. ^ Robert K. Barnhart, ed., Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988; reprint, Edinburgh: Chambers, 2008), 95.
  2. ^ Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson's 1874 Icelandic-English dictionary.
  3. ^ Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller's 1898 Anglo-Saxon dictionary.

AlbanianEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From birë (“hole”).

NounEdit

birth m (indefinite plural birthe, definite singular birthi, definite plural birthat)

  1. pimple, blemish
Related termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

Diminutive -th lengthening of bir (“son”).

NounEdit

birth m (indefinite plural birthe, definite singular birthi, definite plural birthat)

  1. son, little boy
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