birth
/bɜːθ//bɜɹθ/
birth noun: the process of childbearing; the beginning of life; the emergence of a human baby or other viviparous animal offspring from the mother's body into the environment. Also the obsolete spelling of berth.
Noun
birth (countable and uncountable, plural births)
- The process of childbearing; the beginning of life; the emergence of a human baby or other viviparous animal offspring from the mother's body into the environment.
- An instance of childbirth.
- Intersex babies account for roughly one per cent of all births.
- In Greece a child was given its name on the seventh or tenth day after birth.1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii
- A beginning or start; a point of origin.
- the birth of an empire
- The circumstances of one's background, ancestry, or upbringing.
- He was of noble birth, but fortune had not favored him.
- without reference to birth, but solely for their qualifications1843, William H. Prescott, History Of The Conquest Of Mexico And History Of The Conquest Of Peru, The Modern Library, page 42
- That which is born.
- That poets are far rarer births than kings.1692, Ben Jonson, “Epigrams”, in The Works of Ben Jonson, page 288
- Others hatch their eggs and tend the birth till it is able to shift for itself.1761, Joseph Addison, The Works of Joseph Addison, volume 3, John Baskerville, page 49
Adjective
birth (not comparable)
- A familial relationship established by childbirth.
- Her birth father left when she was a baby; she was raised by her mother and stepfather.
- Synonyms:
- biological, blood, consanguineous
Verb
birth (third-person singular simple present births, present participle birthing, simple past and past participle birthed)
- To bear or give birth to (a child).
- I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!1939, Sidney Howard, Ben Hecht, Jo Swerling, John Van Druten, Oliver H.P. Garrett, Gone with the Wind (film)
- Kelly: Is it true we have a pod containing a baby krogan down in the cargo hold?
Shepard: Not a baby. He's a full-grown super soldier ready for combat.
Kelly: Please be careful if you decide to... err... birth him? His personality is completely unknown.2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2
- To produce, give rise to.
- Biological evolution created a human mind that enabled cultural evolution, which now outpaces and outclasses the force that birthed it.2006, R. Bruce Hull, Infinite Nature, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 156
Also used as
birth is also the obsolete spelling of berth.
birth meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
birth in Hindi
- process of childbearing; beginning of life
- जन्म janma, जनन janan, पैदाइश paidāiś
- instance of childbirth
- जन्म janma, पैदाइश paidāiś
- beginning or start; a point of origin
- जन्म janma
birth in Tamil
- process of childbearing; beginning of life
- பிறப்பு piṟappu
- instance of childbirth
- பிறப்பு piṟappu, பிறவி piṟavi
- beginning or start; a point of origin
- பிறப்பு piṟappu, பிறவி piṟavi
- circumstances of one's background
- பிறப்பு piṟappu
birth in Urdu
- process of childbearing; beginning of life
- تولد tavallud, پیدائش paidāish, ولادت wilādat
- instance of childbirth
- تولد tavallud, پیدائش paidāish, ولادت wilādat
birth in Bengali
- process of childbearing; beginning of life
- পয়দায়েশ poẏdaẏeś
More languagesFewer languages
- birth in Telugu
- జననము jananamu, జన్మము janmamu, పుట్టుక puṭṭuka, జన్మించుట janmiñcuṭa
- birth in Malayalam
- ജനനം jananaṁ
- birth in Kannada
- ಜನನ, ಜನ್ಮ, ಹುಟ್ಟುವಿಕೆ
- birth in Odia
- ଜନ୍ମ janma
- birth in Sanskrit
- उत्पाद utpāda, जन्म janma, जनति janati
- birth in Nepali
- जन्म
- birth in Pashto
- تولد tawalód
- birth in Arabic
- وِلَادَة wilāda, مَوْلِد mawlid, مِيلَاد mīlād, تَوَلُّد tawallud
- birth in Malay
- kelahiran, keputeraan, keputerian
- birth in Indonesian
- kelahiran
- birth in Persian
- تولد tavallod, زایش zâyeš
- birth in Thai
- การเกิด gaan-gə̀ət, กำเนิด gam-nə̀ət
- birth in Vietnamese
- sự sinh đẻ, đầu, sự ra đời, dòng dõi
Examples of birth in a sentence
- In many cultures, a baby turns one year old a year after its birth.
- Before the birth of the man's child, he said: "I want a son, not a daughter."
- Einstein gave birth to a famous equation relating energy to mass.
Synonyms of birth
Antonyms
Forms of birth
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | births |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | births |
| present participle | birthing |
| past participle | birthed |
| past | birthed |
Origin of birth
From Middle English birthe (1250), from earlier burthe, burde, from Old Norse burðr, byrd (Old Swedish byrth, Swedish börd), replacing Old English ġebyrd (rare variant byrþ), equivalent to bear + -th (thus a piecewise doublet of berth). The Old Norse is from Proto-Germanic *burdiz (compare Old Frisian berde, berd); Old English ġebyrd is from prefixed *gaburþiz (compare Dutch geboorte, German Geburt), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰŕ̥tis (compare Latin fors (“luck”), Old Irish brith), from *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”). More at bear.
From Middle English birthen, birðen, from the noun (see above).
See berth.
Words formed from birth
- AFAB
- AMAB
- antibirth
- birf
- birth-assigned
- birth canal
- birth cert
- birth-certificate
- birth certificate
- birth chair
- birth chart
- birthchild
- birth control
- birth control glasses
- birth date
- birth defect
- birthdom
- birther
- birthfamily
- birthfather
- birth father
- birthfeast
- birthgasm
- birthgiver
- birthhome
- birthhood
- birth hour
- birthhouse
- birthland
- birthless
- birthline
- birthmark
- birthmate
- birth month
- birthmother
- birth name
- birthnight
- birth pang
- birthparent
- birth plan
- birthquake
- birthroot
- birth sex
- birth sin
- birthsite
- birthstead
- birthstool
- birth stool
- birthtide
- birth time
- birthtime
- birth tongue
- birth-tongue
- birthtongue
- birth-to-potty
- birth-to-potty diaper
- birth-to-potty nappy
- birth tourist
- birth tray
- birth weight
Phrases with birth
- birth home
- birth pill
- birth rate
- gave birth
- give birth
- home birth
- live birth
- birth certs
- birth dates
- birth homes
- birth names
- birth pangs
48 more phrasesFewer phrases
- birth pills
- birth plans
- birth rates
- birth sexes
- birth times
- birth trays
- child birth
- given birth
- gives birth
- lotus birth
- water birth
- birth canals
- birth chairs
- birth charts
- birth months
- birth mother
- birth parent
- birth stools
- breech birth
- coffin birth
- giving birth
- virgin birth
- birth defects
- birth fathers
- birth mothers
- birth parents
- birth tongues
- birth tourism
- birth weights
- date of birth
- natural birth
- vaginal birth
- birth tourists
- dates of birth
- multiple birth
- place of birth
- twilight birth
- wrongful birth
- places of birth
- premature birth
- crude birth rate
- accident of birth
- crude birth rates
- accidents of birth
- birth certificates
- traditional birth attendant
- fraternal birth order effect
- traditional birth attendants
Words that rhyme with birth
2 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about birth
- What does birth mean?
- Birth means the process of childbearing; the beginning of life; the emergence of a human baby or other viviparous animal offspring from the mother's body into the environment.
- What is birth in Hindi?
- Birth in Hindi is जन्म (janma), जनन (janan), पैदाइश (paidāiś). See Birth meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is birth?
- Birth can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce birth?
- Birth is pronounced /bɜːθ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of birth?
- The plural of birth is births.
Words near birth in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: birth (page history and authors); birth (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); birth (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-berth.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-birth.wav.
Cite this entry: “birth.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/birth. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.