birth certificate

American  

noun

• birth certificates
  plural

1. an official form recording the birth of a baby and containing pertinent data, as name, sex, date, place, and parents.

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birth certificate British  

noun

1. an official form giving details of the time and place of a person's birth, and his or her name, sex, mother's name and (usually) father's name

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• birth certificates
  plural

Etymology

Origin of birth certificate

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

birth certificate

She delivered the baby and was listed as the mother on the birth certificate, even though she had no genetic connection to the child.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

A woman gave birth in a cinema after going into labour in the middle of a movie, with the newborn's birth certificate officially recording the unusual place of birth.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

“If your family is homeless and sleeping in your car, you’re not really focused on where’s my birth certificate, where’s my documentation.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

"However, when the baby was born and we went to get the birth certificate, the name Dunyo was no longer there" after the update, she said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

Valentina Petrochenkova was so inspired by the flight of the Rodina that she’d faked her own birth certificate so she could take her flight test early.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein