midwife

American  

[mid-wahyf] / ˈmɪdˌwaɪf /

noun

• midwives
  plural

1. a person trained to assist women in childbirth.

2. a person or thing that produces or aids in producing something new or different.

---

verb (used with object)

midwifed, midwived, midwifing, midwiving

1. to assist in the birth of (a baby).

2. to produce or aid in producing (something new).

   to midwife a new generation of computers.

midwife British  

/ ˈmɪdˌwaɪf /

noun

1. a person qualified to deliver babies and to care for women before, during, and after childbirth

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• midwives
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of midwife

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English midwif, from mid “with, accompanying” ( Old English; see also meta-) + wif “woman” ( Old English wīf; see wife)

---

Explanation

A midwife is someone whose job involves helping women give birth to babies. Some pregnant women get their prenatal care from a midwife, as well as delivering their babies with a midwife's help. There are different categories of midwives — lay midwives attend home births, and nurse midwives also assist birthing women at hospitals and birth centers. In either case, a midwife is trained to understand the process of birth and techniques to make it easier and safe for mothers and newborn babies. Midwife literally means "woman who is with," or "woman assisting," from the Middle English mid, "with," and wif, "woman."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

midwife midwives midwifed midwifing midwived

An NHS spokesperson advised seeking support from your GP, health visitor or midwife if these symptoms persist, in addition to charities such as Mind and PANDAS.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

Every woman will have a designated midwife when they register for birth, while the ambulance service will be able to triage women to Craigavon Hospital or elsewhere as appropriate.

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026

Former nurse and midwife Helen Haines entered parliament in 2019, earning respect across the political divide for her efforts to stamp out corruption and bolster transparency.

From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026

"Recently, the pollution in Dili has been very severe," 30-year-old midwife Sonya da Costa Soares told AFP.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

Mother, who was the midwife, had given her Saint-John’s-wort and other remedies.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

It also said closures could result in midwives being redeployed further from home.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

“Cárdenas was, in a real sense, one of the midwives of Mexico’s democratic transition,” said Kathleen Bruhn, a political science professor specializing in Mexico at the University of California.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Because she required specialist care, midwives at Daisy Hill in Newry wanted to send Natasha Daryaie to Craigavon Area Hospital but were told there was no room.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026

The NHS leaders' organisation also said some smaller units struggled to maintain safe staffing numbers for 24-hour care, including midwives and consultants such as obstetricians.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Her mother, an anthropologist, is doing fieldwork on midwives in Thailand.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

The actually existing Mets were also midwifed by Gotham honchos.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026

He midwifed the country’s first farm labor bill, and was decades ahead of his time on renewable energy and climate change.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2023

"It's not going to stop with Black studies, it will continue to all the other subjects and knowledges that are midwifed and have been midwifed by Black studies."

From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2023

Spun off from Jemisin’s 2016 short story “The City Born Great,” the novel figures cities as living, sentient organisms that are “born” into human avatars, midwifed by the previous city to be delivered into sentience.

From New York Times ● Mar. 24, 2020

Unable to reach his sons, Dad called Rob and Diane Hardy, because Mother had midwifed five of their eight children.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

“There is lots to be proud of, including midwifing ten new plays by women playwrights from Los Angeles, into the American theatre through our Writers Workshop,” he wrote.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2022

And James will ironically be in the position of midwifing the next phase of America’s gun movement.

From Slate ● Sep. 3, 2020

Mrs. Maas, perhaps best known for midwifing the “I Love New York” campaign in the 1970s, died Nov. 16 at 86.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 26, 2018

However, Campbell is also sharply scrutinized for his role in midwifing and unleashing Dianetics.

From Nature ● Oct. 9, 2018

Mother charged about five hundred dollars for a delivery, and this was another way midwifing changed her: suddenly she had money.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Langhorne was midwived in a Bethesda hospital, the middle of three sons to a father who ran a concrete company.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 5, 2015

I pretend neither to the spirit of prophecy, nor to any uncommon skill in predicting a crisis; much less to tell when it begins to be nascent, or is fairly midwived into the world.

From James Otis, the pre-revolutionist by John Clark Ridpath

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• obstetrician

---