superfetate
superfetate verb: to conceive after a prior conception, but before the birth of the offspring.
Verb
superfetate (third-person singular simple present superfetates, present participle superfetating, simple past and past participle superfetated)
- To conceive after a prior conception, but before the birth of the offspring.
- The hare, for instance, which is hunted alike by beasts, birds, and men, breeds so abundantly as even to superfetate, a thing which is true of no other animal. You find in a hare's belly, at one and the same time, some of the young all covered with fur, others quite naked, others again just fully...1910, Herodotus, translated by George Rawlinson, The History of Herodotus, Book 3
- Rabbits breed in every month of the year, and superfetate, as do hares; after giving birth they pair again at once.1938, Pliny the Elder, translated by H. Rackham, Natural History, Book 10
Forms of superfetate
| third-person singular present | superfetates |
|---|---|
| present participle | superfetating |
| past participle | superfetated |
| past | superfetated |
Origin of superfetate
From Latin superfetare, from super (“above, over”) + fetare (“to bring forth”).
Words formed from superfetate
Questions about superfetate
- What does superfetate mean?
- Superfetate means to conceive after a prior conception, but before the birth of the offspring.
- What part of speech is superfetate?
- Superfetate is a verb.
- What is the past tense of superfetate?
- The past tense of superfetate is superfetated.
Words near superfetate in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: superfetate (page history and authors). 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.
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Cite this entry: “superfetate.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/superfetate. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.