Birth
Pronunciation
- enPR: bû(r)th
- UK IPA: /bÉœËθ/
- US IPA: /bÉθ/
- Rhymes: -ÉœË(ɹ)θ
- Homophones: berth
Origin
From Middle English birthe (1250), from earlier burthe, burde,
Robert K. Barnhart, ed., Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988; reprint, Edinburgh: Chambers, 2008), 95.
Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson's 1874 Icelandic-English dictionary.
(Old Swedish byrth, Swedish börd), replacing Old English gebyrd (rare variant byrþ)
Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller's 1898 Anglo-Saxon dictionary.
. The Old Norse is from Proto-Germanic *burdiz (compare Old Frisian berde, berd); Old English gebyrd is from prefixed *gaburdiz (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
birth
(countable and uncountable; plural births)- (uncountable) The process of childbearing; the beginning of life.
- (countable) An instance of childbirth.Intersex babies account for roughly one per cent of all births.
- (countable) A beginning or start; a point of origin.the birth of an empire
- (uncountable) The circumstances of one's background, ancestry, or upbringing.He was of noble birth, but fortune had not favored him.
- Prescottelected without reference to birth, but solely for qualifications
- That which is born.
- Ben JonsonPoets are far rarer births than kings.
- AddisonOthers hatch their eggs and tend the birth till it is able to shift for itself.
Antonyms
- (beginning of life) death
Full definition of birth
Adjective
birth
- A familial relationship established by childbirth.Her birth father left when she was a baby; she was raised by her mother and stepfather.
Synonyms
Verb
- (dated or regional) To bear or give birth to (a child).
- 1939, Sidney Howard, , , , Oliver H.P. Garrett, "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!"
- (figuratively) To produce, give rise to.
- 2006, R. Bruce Hull, Infinite Nature, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 9780226359441, page 156:Biological evolution created a human mind that enabled cultural evolution, which now outpaces and outclasses the force that birthed it.
Usage notes
The term give birth (to) is much more common, especially in literal use.