Definition
nounA female parent, especially of a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, or fostered).
nounA female parent, especially of a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, guardian to, or fostered).
Sentence Examples
"Who is it?" "It's your mother."
My mother prefers the arbitrary selection of the lottery machines over my lucky numbers.
I want to buy a present for my mother and father.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr
Proto-Germanic *mōdēr
Proto-West Germanic *mōder
Old English mōdor
Middle English moder
English mother
From Middle English moder, from Old English mōdor, from Proto-West Germanic *mōder, from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr. Doublet of Madeira, mata, mater, matrix, and matter.
Some have proposed that the "dregs" sense is from Middle Dutch modder (“filth”), from Proto-Germanic *muþraz (“sediment”), but modder is not known in this meaning. On the other hand, words for "mother" have developed the secondary sense of "dregs" in several Romance and Germanic languages; compare Dutch moer, French mère de vinaigre, German Essigmutter, Italian madre, Medieval Latin māter, and Spanish madre.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"He had something of his mother in him, but this was because he realized that in the end only her love was unconditional, and in gratitude he had emulated her."
— 1988, Robert Ferro, Second Son:
"The "Ritual to Celebrate Birthing" begins with a leader welcoming all participants : "Welcome to this celebration for N. She is approaching the time when she will become a mother for the first time (or become a mother again)."
— 2005, Trudelle Thomas, Spirituality in the Mother Zone: Staying Centered, Finding God, Paulist Press, →ISBN, page 41:
"In many countries, up to 1 in 5 new mothers experience a mood or anxiety disorder. Unfortunately, these conditions often go undiagnosed and untreated due to lack of awareness and stigma, and everyone pays the price. […] To find out more, I spoke with CNN wellness expert Dr. Leana Wen. Wen, a mother of two young kids, is an emergency physician and adjunct associate professor at the George Washington University."
— 2024 May 1, Katia Hetter, “Why is a mother’s mental health so important? A doctor explains”, in CNN:
"The antiabortion iconography in the last decade featured the fetus but never the mother."
— 1991, Susan Faludi, The Undeclared War Against American Women:
"To clone a boy, it is necessary to have a man as a DNA donor, a woman as an egg donor, and may be another woman as a surrogate mother."
— 2006, Multiplicity Yours: Cloning, Stem Cell Research, and Regenerative Medicine, →ISBN: