Wiktionary

birth

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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    Etymology tree
    Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-
    Proto-Indo-European *-tis
    Proto-Indo-European *bʰértisder.
    Proto-Germanic *burþiz
    Old Norse burðrbor.
    Middle English birthe
    English birth

    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 (thus a piecewise doublet of 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.

    Noun

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    birth (countable and uncountable, plural births)

    1. (uncountable) The process of childbearing; the beginning of life; the emergence of a human baby or other viviparous animal offspring from the mother's body into the environment.
    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.
    Usage notes
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    Birth and childbirth: Childbirth connotes the event as it occurs to the mother, whereas birth connotes it as it occurs to the offspring. For example, "the pain of childbirth" suggests pain the mother feels, while "the pain of birth" suggests pain the baby feels. Either term can be used from an outside perspective (Fathers are more and more frequently present at the birth/at childbirth).

    Antonyms
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    • (antonym(s) of “beginning of life”): death
    Derived terms
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    Translations
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    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

    Adjective

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    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.
    Synonyms
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    Etymology 2

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

    Verb

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    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 notes
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    Derived terms
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    Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
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    Translations
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    Etymology 3

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    See berth.

    Noun

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    birth (plural births)

    1. Obsolete spelling of berth.

    References

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    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.

    Albanian

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    Etymology 1

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    From birë (“hole”).

    Noun

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

    1. pimple, blemish
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    Etymology 2

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

    Noun

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

    1. son, little boy
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