birth

• (UK) enPR: bûth, IPA^(key): /bɜːθ/, verb also: IPA^(key): /bɜːð/
• (US) enPR: bûrth, IPA^(key): /bɝθ/, verb also: IPA^(key): /bɝð/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)θ
• Homophone: berth

From Middle English birthe (1250), from earlier burthe, burde,[1] from Old Norse burðr, byrd[2] (Old Swedish byrth, Swedish börd), replacing Old English ġebyrd (rare variant byrþ)[3], equivalent to bear +‎ -th (compare also 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 *bʰr̥tis (compare Latin fors (“luck”), Old Irish brith), from *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”). More at bear.

birth (countable and uncountable, plural births)

1. (uncountable) The process of childbearing; the beginning of life.
2. (countable) An instance of childbirth.

   Intersex babies account for roughly one per cent of all births.

3. (countable) A beginning or start; a point of origin.

   the birth of an empire

4. (uncountable) The circumstances of one's background, ancestry, or upbringing.

   He was of noble birth, but fortune had not favored him.

   • 1843, William H. Prescott, History Of The Conquest Of Mexico And History Of The Conquest Of Peru‎, The Modern Library, page 42:

     without reference to birth, but solely for their qualifications

   • 1861, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage:

     Lucy […] had no fortune, which, though a minor evil, was an evil; and she had no birth, in the high-life sense of the word, which was a greater evil.

5. That which is born.
   • 1692, Ben Jonson, “Epigrams”, in The Works of Ben Jonson‎, page 288:

     That poets are far rarer births than kings.

   • 1761, Joseph Addison, The Works of Joseph Addison‎, volume 3, John Baskerville, page 49:

     Others hatch their eggs and tend the birth till it is able to shift for itself.

6. Misspelling of berth.
   • 1816, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Mansfield Park, volume III, second edition, London: […] J[ohn] Murray, […], page 151:

     “[…] She lays close to the Endymion, between her and the Cleopatra, just to the eastward of the sheer hulk.” “Ha!” cried William, “that’s just where I should have put her myself. It’s the best birth at Spithead. […]”

• (beginning of life): death

birth (not comparable)

1. A familial relationship established by childbirth.

   Her birth father left when she was a baby; she was raised by her mother and stepfather.

• biological, blood, consanguineous

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

birth (third-person singular simple present births, present participle birthing, simple past and past participle birthed)

1. To bear or give birth to (a child).
   • 1939, Sidney Howard, Ben Hecht, Jo Swerling, John Van Druten, Oliver H.P. Garrett, Gone with the Wind (film):

     I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies!

   • 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:

     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.

2. (figuratively) To produce, give rise to.
   • 2006, R. Bruce Hull, Infinite Nature‎, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 156:

     Biological evolution created a human mind that enabled cultural evolution, which now outpaces and outclasses the force that birthed it.

• The term give birth (to) is much more common, especially in literal use.

• bear
• born

From birë (“hole”).

birth m (indefinite plural birthe, definite singular birthi, definite plural birthat)

1. pimple, blemish

• birë

Diminutive -th lengthening of bir (“son”).

birth m (indefinite plural birthe, definite singular birthi, definite plural birthat)

1. son, little boy