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.

---

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)

---

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.

---

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

birth More Idioms  

1. see give birth to.

---

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; bear ¹ ( def. ), -th ¹ ( def. )

Example Sentences

And for the next four years, between caring for her mother, who died in 2016, and the birth of her grandchildren, family became her focus.

From Los Angeles Times

The Congressional Budget Office further trimmed its long-term forecast for U.S. population growth Wednesday, citing changes to immigration policy and declining birth rates.

From The Wall Street Journal

Jonathan Stoner, who had been helping to raise funds for Trevor's funeral, said the error was discovered after he regained consciousness and said his name and date of birth.

From BBC

Twin births are thought to account for about 1% of all mountain gorilla births, though exact data is not widely available.

From BBC

"I am starting a petition to try and get the SMA on the newborn screening heel group testing from birth," Nelson, 34, said on her Instagram story.

From BBC

Related Words

• beginning
• childbirth
• creation
• delivery