childbirth
/ˈt͡ʃaɪldˌbɝθ/
childbirth noun: the fact or action of giving birth to a child, as the culmination of pregnancy; the process by which it happens.
Noun
childbirth (usually uncountable, plural childbirths)
- The fact or action of giving birth to a child, as the culmination of pregnancy; the process by which it happens.
- Near-synonyms: labour, delivery (the moment of emergence)
- The preference for tightness during intercourse is so well known in Western culture that U.S. obstetricians even have a term for the extra stitch they often perform when doing episiotomy repairs following childbirth: the "husband's stitch." The husband's stitch is intended to produce a smaller...2001, Ellen Gruenbaum, The Female Circumcision Controversy: An Anthropological Perspective
- Synonyms:
- parturition, labour, delivery
- Antonyms:
- death
childbirth meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
childbirth in Hindi
- act of giving birth
- प्रसव prasav, प्रसूति prasūti, जापा jāpā
childbirth in Tamil
- குழந்தைப்பேறு, பிள்ளைப் பேறு
childbirth in Marathi
- बाळंतपण
childbirth in Urdu
- act of giving birth
- وَضْعِ حَمْل vaz'-i haml, وِلادَت vilādat, جاپا jāpā, زَچْگی zacgī
More languagesFewer languages
- childbirth in Bengali
- প্রসব prośob
- childbirth in Telugu
- ప్రసవం prasavaṁ
- childbirth in Malayalam
- പ്രസവം prasavaṁ
- childbirth in Gujarati
- બાળજન્મ bāḷjanma, પ્રસવ prasav
- childbirth in Odia
- ପ୍ରସବ, ସନ୍ତାନ ପ୍ରସବ
- childbirth in Arabic
- مَخَاض maḵāḍ, وَضْع waḍʕ, وِلَادَة wilāda
- childbirth in Indonesian
- parturisi, partus, persalinan, kelahiran
- childbirth in Persian
- زایِمان zâyemân, وَضْعِ حَمْل vaz'-e haml, وِلادَت velâdat
- childbirth in Thai
- การคลอด gaan-klɔ̂ɔt
- childbirth in Vietnamese
- sinh con
Examples of childbirth in a sentence
- During childbirth, there are times when the obstetrician advises the woman not to push.
- Many mothers find the use of perineal massage eases their childbirth.
- The churching of women traditionally includes thanksgiving for the women's survival of childbirth.
Synonyms of childbirth
Antonyms
Forms of childbirth
| plural | childbirths |
|---|---|
| alternative form | child-birth |
Origin of childbirth
From Middle English childbyrth [and other forms], perhaps a partial calque of Old Norse barnburðr (“childbearing, childbirth”, literally “bairn birth”); equivalent to child + birth. Compare Swedish barnsbörd (“childbirth”), Icelandic barnsburður (“childbirth”).
Questions about childbirth
- What does childbirth mean?
- Childbirth means the fact or action of giving birth to a child, as the culmination of pregnancy; the process by which it happens.
- What is childbirth in Hindi?
- Childbirth in Hindi is प्रसव (prasav), प्रसूति (prasūti), जापा (jāpā). See Childbirth meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is childbirth?
- Childbirth is a noun.
- How do you pronounce childbirth?
- Childbirth is pronounced /ˈt͡ʃaɪldˌbɝθ/ (US).
- What is the plural of childbirth?
- The plural of childbirth is childbirths.
Words near childbirth in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: childbirth (page history and authors); childbirth (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); childbirth (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); પ્રસવ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); childbirth (Odia, 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)-Flame, not lame-childbirth.wav.
Cite this entry: “childbirth.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/childbirth. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.