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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

birth.

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.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/bɜːθ/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/bɜːð/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/bɜɹθ/General-American/bɝð/General-American
  1. 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.

    uncountable
  2. An instance of childbirth.

    countable
    Intersex babies account for roughly one per cent of all births.
  3. A beginning or start; a point of origin.

    countable
    the birth of an empire
  4. The circumstances of one's background, ancestry, or upbringing.

    uncountable
    He was of noble birth, but fortune had not favored him.
  5. That which is born.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *bʰértisder. Proto-Germanic *burþiz Old Norse burðrbor. Middle English birthe English 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.

adj/bɜːθ/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/bɜːð/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/bɜɹθ/General-American/bɝð/General-American
  1. A familial relationship established by childbirth.

    not-comparable
    Her birth father left when she was a baby; she was raised by her mother and stepfather.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *bʰértisder. Proto-Germanic *burþiz Old Norse burðrbor. Middle English birthe English 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.

verb/bɜːθ/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/bɜːð/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/bɜɹθ/General-American/bɝð/General-American
  1. To bear or give birth to (a child).

    transitive
  2. To produce, give rise to.

    figuratively · transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English birthen, birðen, from the noun (see above).

noun/bɜːθ/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/bɜːð/Australia, Received-Pronunciation/bɜɹθ/General-American/bɝð/General-American
  1. Obsolete spelling of berth.

    alt-of · obsolete
Where this word comes from

See berth.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.