birth

American  

[burth] / bɜrθ /

noun

births plural

1. an act or instance of being born.

   the day of his birth.

2. the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring; childbirth; parturition.

   a difficult birth.

3. lineage; extraction; descent.

   of Grecian birth.

   Synonyms:

   family, blood, line, ancestry, parentage

4. high or noble lineage.

   to be foolishly vain about one's birth.

5. natural heritage.

   a musician by birth.

6. any coming into existence; origin; beginning.

   the birth of Protestantism; the birth of an idea.

   Synonyms:

   inauguration, genesis, inception, commencement, start

7. Archaic. something that is born.

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verb (used with object)

Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S.

births, present (3rd person singular) birthed, past participle, past birthing present participle

1. to give birth to.

2. to assist in giving birth; act as midwife for.

idioms

1. give birth to,

   1. to bear (a child).

   2. to initiate; originate.

      Her hobby gave birth to a successful business.

birth British  

/ bɜːθ /

noun

1. the process of bearing young; parturition; childbirth

2. the act or fact of being born; nativity

3. the coming into existence of something; origin

4. ancestry; lineage

   of high birth

5. noble ancestry

   a man of birth

6. natural or inherited talent

   an artist by birth

7. archaic the offspring or young born at a particular time or of a particular mother

8. 1. to bear (offspring)

   2. to produce, originate, or create (an idea, plan, etc)

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verb

1. to bear or bring forth (a child)

birth Scientific  

/ bûrth /

1. The emergence and separation of offspring from the body of its mother, seen in all mammals except monotremes.

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1. Present at birth, as a defect in a bodily structure.

birth More Idioms  

1. see give birth to.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• multibirth
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• births
  plural

Participles

• birthing
  present
• birthed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• birth
  simple
• births
  simple
• have birthed
  perfect
• has birthed
  perfect
• am birthing
  progressive
• are birthing
  progressive
• is birthing
  progressive
• have been birthing
  perfect progressive
• has been birthing
  perfect progressive

Past

• birthed
  simple
• had birthed
  perfect
• was birthing
  progressive
• were birthing
  progressive
• had been birthing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will birth
  simple
• will have birthed
  perfect
• will be birthing
  progressive
• will have been birthing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of birth

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English byrthe, from Scandinavian; compare Old Swedish byrth; cognate with Old English gebyrd, Old High German giburt, Gothic gabaurths; cf. bear ¹ ( def. ), -th ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

The Manchester City striker was born in Leeds, so would be lining up for the Three Lions if he had opted to represent the country of his birth.

From BBC • Jul. 8, 2026

A company usually has several months in which to plan ahead for a birth or an adoption, and there’s a relatively defined period during which employees might take parental leave.

From MarketWatch • Jul. 7, 2026

At one point, the DHS publicly insisted he had been sent to Thailand, the country of his birth but where he doesn't hold citizenship, before finally acknowledging he had been flown to Eswatini.

From Barron's • Jul. 7, 2026

Born to Nigerian parents who lived in London, his mother wound up giving birth to him in Brooklyn after being turned away from her flight home due to her advanced pregnancy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 6, 2026

“Where was I? Ah yes, marvel light is with us from birth, but it takes years of practice to channel it effectively. This year, you'll learn to pull the light out of you.”

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

Related Words

• beginning
• childbirth
• creation
• delivery