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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

motherly.

Befitting a mother; warm, caring, nurturing, protective, loving.

8 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈmʌðəli/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmʌðɚli/General-American
  1. Befitting a mother; warm, caring, nurturing, protective, loving.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English moderly, from Old English mōdorlīċ (“motherly, maternal”), from Proto-Germanic *mōdērlīkaz (“motherly, maternal”), equivalent to mother + -ly.

adv/ˈmʌðəli/Received-Pronunciation/ˈmʌðɚli/General-American
  1. In a way pertaining to, befitting, or of a mother.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English moderly, from Old English mōdorlīċ (“motherly, maternal”), from Proto-Germanic *mōdērlīkaz (“motherly, maternal”), equivalent to mother + -ly.

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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.