pregnant

See also: prégnant

English

Alternative forms

• prægnant (obsolete)
• pregnaunt (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛɡnənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛɡnənt
• Hyphenation: preg‧nant

Etymology 1

From Middle English preignant, from Old French preignant, pregnant, also prenant (compare archaic Modern French prégnant), and their source, Latin praegnāns (“pregnant”), probably from prae- (“pre-”) + *gnāscī, an archaic form of nāscī (“to be born”). Displaced Old English bearnēacen (literally "child-enlarged").

Adjective

pregnant (comparative more pregnant, superlative most pregnant)

1. (chiefly not comparable) Carrying developing offspring within the body.

   I went to the doctor and, guess what, I’m five weeks pregnant!

   I became pregnant in July 2014.

   • 2017 July 13, Bonnie Rochman, “Mothers-To-Be Aren’t Told Enough About Genetic Testing”, in Time‎^[1]:

     Once upon a time, not so long ago, women got pregnant and spent nine months in suspense before finding out if they were having a boy or a girl. But today? That waiting game is completely outdated, even quaint.

   • 2025 February 19, Christian Wolmar, “Mind your language...”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 34:

     It suggests that pregnant women should be called pregnant people, presumably on the basis that just perhaps there may be a pregnant man somewhere.

   1. (sometimes proscribed) Of a couple: expecting a baby together.

      We are pregnant.

2. (comparable) Meaningful, having numerous possibilities or implications; full of promise; abounding in ability, resources, etc.

   a pregnant pause

   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     wherein the pregnant enemy does much

   • 2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 April 2019:

     The many tear-jerkers deal with finality, with death and the end of love, with a stoicism pregnant with feeling.

3. (poetic) Fecund, fertile, prolific (usually of soil, ground, etc.).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     The sunne-beames bright vpon her body playd, / Being through former bathing mollifide, / And pierst into her wombe, where they embayd / With so sweet sence and secret power vnspide, / That in her pregnant flesh they shortly fructifide.

4. (obsolete) Affording entrance; receptive; yielding; willing; open; prompt.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:

     play at subtill games; faire vertues all;
     To which the Grecians are most prompt and pregnant

5. (obsolete) Ready-witted; clever; ingenious.

Synonyms

• (carrying offspring (standard)): expecting, expecting a baby, expectant, gravid (of animals only), with child, fertilized, gone (for a particular number of months)
• (carrying offspring (colloquial/slang)): eating for two, having a bun in the oven, in a family way, knocked up, preggers, up the duff, up the spout
• (carrying offspring (euphemistic)): in an interesting condition, in a family way
• (having many possibilities or implications): meaningful, significant
• See also Thesaurus:pregnant

Hyponyms

• (carrying developing offspring): in trouble

Derived terms

• affirmative pregnant
• barefoot and pregnant
• big pregnant
• fall pregnant
• impregnant
• I'm pregnant
• midpregnant
• negative pregnant
• nonpregnant
• pregnant and barefoot
• pregnant chad
• pregnant construction
• pregnant denial
• pregnantly
• pregnantness
• pregnant pause
• pregnant woman
• pregnercise
• prepregnant
• pseudopregnant
• unpregnant
• you can't be half pregnant

Related terms

• impregnate
• pregnancy

Translations

carrying developing offspring within the body

• Afrikaans: swanger
• Aghwan: 𐕇𐔰𐔾𐔰𐔺 (x̣alay)
• Albanian: shtatzënë (sq)
• Arabic: حَامِل (ar) f (ḥāmil), حَوامِلُ f pl (ḥawāmilu), حُبْلَى f (ḥublā)

  Cypriot Arabic: xuple f

  North Levantine Arabic: حبلي f (ḥible)

• Armenian: հղի (hy) (hġi)

  Old Armenian: յղի (yłi), յղացեալ (yłacʻeal), սաղմնառեալ (sałmnaṙeal)

• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܒܛܝܼܢܵܐ m (bṭīnā), ܒܛܝܼܢܬܵܐ f (bṭīntā), ܝܲܩܘܼܪܬܵܐ f (yaqurtā)
• Asturian: preñada
• Avar: къинай (qxʼinaj)
• Azerbaijani: boylu, hamilə (az)
• Bashkir: ауырлы (awırlı), йөклө (yöklö), ауыр аяҡлы (awır ayaqlı), ауырға уҙған (awırğa uźğan), буйға уҙған (buyğa uźğan)
• Basque: haurdun
• Belarusian: цяжа́рны (cjažárny), чарава́ты (čaraváty), бярэ́менны (bjarémjenny)
• Bengali: গর্ভবতী (bn) (gorbhoboti)
• Bikol Central: bados (bcl)
• Bulgarian: бре́менен (brémenen), тру́ден (bg) m (trúden) (dated)
• Burmese: ကိုယ်ဝန်ရှိ (my) (kuiywanhri.), ဗိုက်ကြီး (my) (buikkri:) (vulgar)
• Catalan: embarassat (ca), encinta f, prenyat (ca), gràvid
• Cebuano: buros
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 懷孕 / 怀孕 (waai⁴ jan⁶), 大肚 (daai⁶ tou⁵) (colloquial), 懷胎 / 怀胎 (waai⁴ toi¹), 有喜 (jau⁵ hei²) (euphemism and colloquial), 有咗 (jau⁵ zo²) (euphemism and colloquial), 有身己 (jau⁵ san¹ gei²)

  Hokkien: 懷胎 / 怀胎 (zh-min-nan) (hoâi-thai), 有身 (zh-min-nan) (ū-sin), 病囝 (pēⁿ-kiáⁿ, pīⁿ-kiáⁿ), 大腹肚 (zh-min-nan) (tōa-pak-tó͘, tōa-bak-tó͘, toā-bat-tó͘), 有囡仔 (ū-gín-á), 有矣 (ū--ah), 帶膭 / 带𱼏 (tòa-kūi), 大肚胿 (tōa-tō͘-kui), 懷孕 / 怀孕 (zh-min-nan) (hôai-īn, hôai-ūn), 有胎 (ū-the), 有身孕 (ū-sin-īn)

  Mandarin: 懷孕 / 怀孕 (zh) (huáiyùn), 有喜 (zh) (yǒuxǐ) (euphemism and colloquial), 有了 (zh) (yǒule) (euphemism and colloquial)

• Crimean Tatar: ağırayaqlı, yüklü, hamile
• Czech: těhotný (cs), březí (cs) (of animals)
• Dalmatian: prin
• Danish: gravid (da), svanger (da), højgravid (heavily pregnant), drægtig (da) (of animals), med barn, ventende, frugtsommelig (da)
• Dutch: zwanger (nl), in verwachting, in blijde verwachting, in gezegende omstandigheden (of humans), drachtig (nl) (of animals)
• Esperanto: graveda
• Estonian: rase (et), tiine (of animals)
• Faroese: við barn, upp á vegin, tvílívað f
• Finnish: raskaana oleva
• French: enceinte (fr) f (woman), pleine (fr) f (animal), gravide (fr) f (zoology), en gestation (fr)
• Friulian: gravide, incinte
• Galician: preñe, grávido, encinta f, preñado
• Georgian: ფეხმძიმე (pexmʒime), ორსული (orsuli), მაკე (maḳe) (for animals)
• German: schwanger (de) (of humans), trächtig (de) (of animals)
• Greek: έγκυος (el) (égkyos)

  Ancient: ἔγκυος (énkuos)

• Greenlandic: naartusoq, ilumittoq
• Guaraní: tyeguasu
• Gujarati: સગર્ભા (sagarbhā)
• Haitian Creole: ansent
• Hawaiian: hāpai
• Hebrew: מעובר \ מְעֻבָּר (m'ubár), בהיריון \ בְּהֵרָיוֹן (b'herayón), הָרָה (he) (haré)
• Hindi: गर्भवती (hi) (garbhavtī), अर्थगर्भित (arthagarbhit), भावपूर्ण (bhāvpūrṇ), परिग्राही (parigrāhī), अर्थपूर्ण (arthapūrṇ), गर्भिणी (hi) (garbhiṇī), परिपूर्ण (hi) (paripūrṇ)
• Hungarian: terhes (hu), várandós (hu) (euphemism), állapotos (hu)
• Icelandic: óléttur, ófrískur, þungaður, barnshafandi (is), vanfær
• Ido: gravida (io)
• Ilocano: masikog
• Indonesian: hamil (id)
• Ingrian: paksu, raskas, tiine (of animals)
• Irish: torrach, ag iompar clainne
• Italian: incinta (it) f, gravida (it) f, pregna (it) f
• Japanese: 妊娠している (ja) (にんしんしている, ninshin shite iru) (verb), (euphemism and colloquial) おめでた (omedeta)
• Kazakh: жүкті (jüktı), екіқабат (ekıqabat)
• Khalaj: âbistən
• Khmer: ទ្រង់គភ៌ (trŭəng kɔə), ពពោះ (pɔɔ pŭəh), មានគភ៌ (miən kɔə), មានផ្ទៃ (miən phtɨy), មានផ្ទៃពោះ (miən phtɨy pŭəh), មានពោះពុង (miən pŭəh pung), កំផើម (kɑmphaəm) (vulgar), ទម្ងន់ (km) (tumngŭən), ស្ពាយបាត្រ (spiəy baat) (colloquial)
• Korean: 임신하다 (ko) (imsinhada)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئاوس (awis), دووگیان (dûgiyan), زگ (ckb) (zig), باردار (ckb) (bardar)

  Northern Kurdish: bihemle (ku), ducan (ku), dugiyan (ku), girane (ku), (for animals) avis (ku)

• Kyrgyz: жүктүү (ky) (jüktüü), бооз (ky) (booz), боюнда бар (boyunda bar)
• Ladin: aspité
• Ladino: parida
• Lao: ພາມານ (phā mān), ມີຄັນ (mī khan), ຖືພາ (thư̄ phā), ມານ (mān), ມີທ້ອງ (mī thǭng), ມີລູກ (mī lūk), ຄັບພະ (khap pha), ຊົງຄັບ (song khap), ຕັ້ງທ້ອງ (tang thǭng), ຖືພາຄາທ້ອງ (thư̄ phā khā thǭng), ຖືພາມານ (thư̄ phā mān)
• Latin: gravidus, praegnāns, praegnās
• Latvian: grūts, grūsns
• Lithuanian: nėščia f
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: бремен (bremen), труден (truden)
• Malay: (of animals) bunting, (of humans) hamil (ms), mengandung (ms), (euphemism,of humans) berbadan dua (ms)
• Malayalam: ഗർഭിണി (gaṟbhiṇi)
• Maléku Jaíka: fiúrusuf
• Maltese: tqila f, tqal pl, ħobla f
• Manchu: ᡩᠠᠪᡴᠸᡵᡳ (dabkwri), ᠵᡠᡵᠰᡠ (jursu), ᠰᡠᠴᡳᠯᡝᠮᠪᡳ (sucilembi)
• Maori: hapū, āhua (mi)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: жирэмсэн (mn) (žiremsen)

  Mongolian: ᠵᠢᠷᠮᠥᠰᠦᠨ (ǰirmösün)

• Neapolitan: prena f
• Norman: encheinte f
• Northern Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gravid, svanger (of humans), drektig (no) (of animals); (heavily pregnant) høygravid, høggravid

  Nynorsk: gravid, (heavily pregnant) høggravid

• Occitan: emprenhat, gravid (oc)
• Old English: bearnēacen
• Oromo: ulfa
• Ottoman Turkish: گبه (gebe), حامله (hamile)
• Pashto: حامله (ps) (hāmela)
• Persian: باردار (fa) (bârdâr), حامله (fa) (hâmele), آبستن (fa) (âbestan)
• Plautdietsch: schwanga, droagent
• Polish: ciężarny (pl), w ciąży (pl), brzemienny (pl) (literary)
• Portuguese: grávida (pt) f, prenhe (pt) m or f, (colloquial) prenha (pt) f, embuchada (pt)
• Punjabi: ਗਰਭਿਣੀ (garbhiṇī)
• Quechua: cicu
• Romani: khamni
• Romanian: gravidă (ro), însărcinată (ro), borțoasă
• Romansch: en speranza
• Russian: бере́менный (ru) (berémennyj), (euphemism and colloquial) в положе́нии (ru) (v položénii), на сно́сях (ru) (na snósjax), на снося́х (ru) (na snosjáx), брюха́тый (ru) (brjuxátyj) (slang)
• Sanskrit: गर्भवती (sa) (garbhavatī)
• Sardinian: pringiu, prinzu, prossimu
• Scots: buggen, biggen
• Scottish Gaelic: torrach, trom, beò-leatromach, leatromach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бремѐнит, тру́дан

  Roman: bremènit (sh), trúdan (sh)

• Sicilian: ncinta f, prena (scn) f
• Slovak: tehotný, brezivý (of animals)
• Slovene: noseči, brej (of animals)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: samodruga f

• Spanish: embarazado (es), preñado (es), encinta (es), grávido, en estado
• Swedish: gravid (sv), havande (sv), på smällen (sv) (slang), dräktig (sv) (of an animal), i grossess, med barn (sv)
• Sylheti: ꠉꠣꠜꠤꠘ (gabíno)
• Tagalog: buntis (tl)
• Tajik: ҳомила (homila), ҳомиладор (tg) (homilador), бордор (bordor), обистан (tg) (obistan)
• Tatar: йөкле (yökle)
• Telugu: గర్భిణి (te) (garbhiṇi), కడుపుతో ఉన్న (kaḍuputō unna)
• Thai: มีครรภ์ (mii-kan), ตั้งครรภ์ (th) (dtâng-kan), ท้อง (th) (tɔ́ɔng)
• Tibetan: ཕྲུ་གུ་སྐྱེ་ཡག་ཡོད་པ (phru gu skye yag yod pa)
• Tocharian B: itomtsa, preṃtsa
• Turkish: gebe (tr), hamile (tr)
• Turkmen: göwreli
• Udi: хела (ꭓela), хъела (qela)
• Ukrainian: вагі́тний (uk) (vahítnyj), важки́й (uk) (važkýj), тяжки́й (uk) (tjažkýj), черева́тий (čerevátyj), беремі́нний (beremínnyj)
• Urdu: حاملہ (hāmilā), باردار (bārdār), آبستن (ābistan), آبستہ (ābista), امید سے (umīd se), با امید (bā umīd), پیٹ سے (peṭ se)
• Uyghur: ھامىلىدار (hamilidar)
• Uzbek: homilador (uz), boʻgʻoz (uz)
• Vietnamese: có thai, có mang thai, có chửa (vi)
• Waray-Waray: burod
• Welsh: beichiog (cy)
• West Frisian: swier (fy)
• Yiddish: שוואַנגער (shvanger), מעוברת (muberes), מעוברתדיק (muberesdik), טראָגעדיק (trogedik), בײַכלדיק (baykhldik) (pejorative), סמיקעדיק (smikedik) (of animals)
• Zazaki: hal (diq) f, lıngagıran f, awr (diq) f (for animal)

having many possibilities or implications

• Bulgarian: сми́слен (bg) (smíslen), съдържа́телен (bg) (sǎdǎržátelen)
• Catalan: prenyat (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 怀孕 (zh) (huáiyùn)

• Danish: prægnant
• Dutch: betekenisvol (nl)
• Finnish: monitahoinen, monisyinen
• German: bedeutungsvoll (de)
• Hungarian: jelentőségteljes (hu), sokatmondó (hu)
• Italian: gravido (it)
• Romanian: pregnant (ro)
• Russian: чрева́тый (ru) (črevátyj), содержа́тельный (ru) (soderžátelʹnyj)
• Turkish: gebe (tr)

fertile — see fertile

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Woiwurrung: ^{(please verify)} koonoong-warren

Noun

pregnant (plural pregnants)

1. A pregnant person.
   • 1843, William Robert Wilde, Austria: Its Literary, Scientific, and Medical Institutions:

     The Entbundenen, or those already delivered, are separate from those pregnants awaiting their accouchement

Translations

pregnant person — see pregnant woman

Etymology 2

Apparently from Middle French pregnant, preignant (“pressing, compelling”), present participle of prembre (“to press”), from Latin premere (“to press”).

Adjective

pregnant (comparative more pregnant, superlative most pregnant)

1. (now rare) Compelling; clear, evident. [from 14th c.]
   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

     Peregrine was in a little time a distinguished character, not only for his acuteness of apprehension, but also for that mischievous fertility of fancy, of which we have already given such pregnant examples.

References

• “Mila Kunis Tells Fathers-to-Be to Stop Saying 'We're Pregnant'”, in ABC News‎^[3], 2014 June 11, archived from the original on 2014-06-12.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French pregnant, from Old French pregnant, from Latin praegnāns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /prɛxˈnɑnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: preg‧nant
• Rhymes: -ɑnt

Adjective

pregnant (comparative pregnanter, superlative pregnantst)

1. poignant, incisive
2. meaningful, polysemic
3. (obsolete) important

Declension

Declension of pregnant
uninflected	pregnant
inflected	pregnante
comparative	pregnanter
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		pregnant	pregnanter	het pregnantst het pregnantste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	pregnante	pregnantere	pregnantste
	n. sing.	pregnant	pregnanter	pregnantste
	plural	pregnante	pregnantere	pregnantste
definite		pregnante	pregnantere	pregnantste
partitive		pregnants	pregnanters	—

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German prägnant and French prégnant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /preɡˈnant/
• Rhymes: -ant
• Hyphenation: preg‧nant

Adjective

pregnant m or n (feminine singular pregnantă, masculine plural pregnanți, feminine and neuter plural pregnante)

1. (literary) evident, marked, manifest

   Synonym: (literary) vădit

Declension

Declension of pregnant

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	pregnant		pregnantă		pregnanți	pregnante
	definite	pregnantul		pregnanta		pregnanții	pregnantele
genitive- dative	indefinite	pregnant		pregnante		pregnanți	pregnante
	definite	pregnantului		pregnantei		pregnanților	pregnantelor

References

• “pregnant”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /prɛɡˈnant/

Adjective

pregnant (comparative pregnantare, superlative pregnantast)

1. pregnant (clear and pithy, of an expression, language, or the like)
2. striking (distinctive, pronounced)

Usage notes

Pregnant as in carrying a baby is gravid (of a human) or dräktig (of an animal).

Declension

Inflection of pregnant

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	pregnant	pregnantare	pregnantast
neuter singular	pregnant	pregnantare	pregnantast
plural	pregnanta	pregnantare	pregnantast
masculine plural2	pregnante	pregnantare	pregnantast
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	pregnante	pregnantare	pregnantaste
all	pregnanta	pregnantare	pregnantaste

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

References

• pregnant in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• pregnant in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• pregnant in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)