birth

CEFRA1

/bɜːθ/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    cause to be born.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    A beginning or start; a point of origin.

Examples

  • Henry James was an American by birth.

  • The baby weighed three kilos at birth.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
3

Also pronounced

  • /beːθ/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meaning

  1. An instance of childbirth.

noun

Extra meanings

  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.

  2. The circumstances of one's background, ancestry, or upbringing.

More examples

In context

  • The proliferation of Internet usage has given birth to a new generation of young people.

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

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

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

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Question 1 · Quick check

The hospital recorded the baby's blank just after midnight on a cold January morning.

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Nearby

Origin

verb

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.