birth
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /bɜːθ/
ipa: /bɜːð/
enpr: bûrth
ipa: /bɜɹθ/
ipa: /bɝð/
ipa: /bɪɹθ/
ipa: /bɪɹð/
ipa: /bøːθ/
ipa: /bøːð/
note: Liverpool, fair–fur merger
ipa: /beːθ/
ipa: /beːð/
note: Liverpool, fair–fur merger
note: Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger
ipa: /bɛːθ/
ipa: /bɛːð/
note: Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger
homophone: berth (fern–fir–fur merger)
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)θ
Forms: form: births
form: birthing
form: birthed
form: birthed
Etymology: From Middle English birthen, birðen, from the noun (see above).
Senses: examples: text: I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!
ref: 1939, Sidney Howard, Ben Hecht, Jo Swerling, John Van Druten, Oliver H.P. Garrett, Gone with the Wind (film):
text: 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.
ref: 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:
text: 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!”
ref: 2023 March 5, Jonathan Bouquet, “May I have a word about… being stuck in a permacrisis”, in The Observer, →ISSN:
glosses: To bear or give birth to (a child).
examples: text: Biological evolution created a human mind that enabled cultural evolution, which now outpaces and outclasses the force that birthed it.
ref: 2006, R. Bruce Hull, Infinite Nature, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 156:
glosses: To produce, give rise to.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: accident of birth
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: afterbirth
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birth control
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birthdate
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birthday
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birthing
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birth mother
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birth pangs
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birth parent
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birth pill
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birthplace
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birthrate
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birth rate
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birthright
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birthstone
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birth tourism
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: birthyear
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: breech birth
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: crossbirth
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: forebirth
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: gainbirth
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: give birth
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: noble birth
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: stillbirth
sense: Terms derived from the noun, adjective, or verb birth
word: virgin birth
Related terms: bear
born