mother

CEFRA1

/ˈmʌð.ə/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A female parent.

  2. 02

    verb

    To care for someone in a protective way.

Examples

  • I want to buy a present for my mother and father.

  • My mother prefers the arbitrary selection of the lottery machines over my lucky numbers.

At a glance

Sits at A1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈmað.ə/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A female who has given birth to a baby; this person in relation to her child or children.

  2. A pregnant female; mother-to-be; a female who gestates a baby.

  3. A female parent, especially of a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, or fostered).

More examples

In context

  • I am visiting my mother any moment.

  • My sister-in-law has just become a mother for the first time.

  • The lioness was a mother of four cubs.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She is a devoted blank who always puts her children first.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.