birth

American  

[burth] / bɜrθ /

noun

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.

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

• multibirth
  noun

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

One month later, Parra gave birth in New York to her third son—a third nationality and the only American citizen among the children.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 23, 2026

They monitored 270 children and adolescents participating in the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health birth cohort.

From Science Daily • May 21, 2026

Joel Bodmer, 40, his wife Shila Bodmer, 41, former Southend councillor Gabriel Leroy, 24, and former Croydon councillor Carole Bonner, 69, appeared only to confirm their names, dates of birth and addresses.

From BBC • May 19, 2026

Roy and I met only a handful of times during the 53 years between my birth in January 1972 and his death in March 2025.

From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026

Betty had given birth to Alfred in 1802.

From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis

Related Words

• beginning
• childbirth
• creation
• delivery