maternity

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French maternité (“motherhood”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} recorded in French from 1475,^[2] from Medieval Latin māternitās,^[2][3][5][6] found from 1122 and in British sources from the mid-12th century,^[2] where it could also mean the state of being a mother church.^[6] Barnhart calls the French word a learned borrowing from Medieval Latin, and Dictionary.com takes the English word directly from Medieval Latin.^[4][7] The Latin noun is formed from Latin māternus (“of a mother”) and the suffix -tās, after paternitās and frāternitās,^[2] the sources of paternity and fraternity.^[2] Māternus comes from māter (“mother”),^[3][8][9] which is related to mother.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state or condition of being a mother; motherhood: 1611, in Cotgrave's French–English dictionary.^[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

In 1693 Urquhart and Motteux's translation of Rabelais used maternity as a title for a senior nun, a use the OED finds nowhere in Rabelais's text.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the character or relation of a mother".^[10] From 1804 it also meant the qualities of a mother, motherliness, now rare.^[2] In the 19th century the noun came to be used before other nouns for things for pregnant women and women giving birth: Merriam-Webster dates the sense "designed for wear during pregnancy" to 1852, Etymonline to 1892, and the Shorter Oxford dates both attributive uses to the late 19th century.^[6][3][11] From 1889 maternity alone could stand for a maternity hospital or department, a sense that French had already had since 1814.^[2] Maternity leave is recorded by 1942,^[3] and in military slang of the 1950s a maternity was a maternity jacket.^[2]

Timeline

• 1611 – motherhood, in Cotgrave.^[2][4]
• 1693 – a title for a senior nun (obsolete).^[2]
• 1755 – Johnson: the character or relation of a mother.^[10]
• 1804 – motherliness.^[2]
• 1852 – attributive, designed for wear in pregnancy (Merriam-Webster's date).^[6]
• 1889 – short for a maternity hospital or department.^[2]
• 1892 – maternity garments (Etymonline's date).^[3]
• 1942 – maternity leave.^[3]
• 1958 – military slang, a maternity jacket.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being a mother; motherhood.^[12][6][2]
2. The qualities associated with a mother; motherliness.^[12][6][2]
3. A hospital, or a part of one, for the care of women giving birth and of newborn babies.^[6][2][11]
4. The state of being pregnant.^[6]

Adjective

1. For pregnant women or women around the time of childbirth: a maternity unit.^[12][11][2]
2. Designed to be worn during pregnancy: maternity jeans.^[6][11]
3. Covering the period close to and including childbirth: maternity benefit.^[6][11]

Word family

• prematernity
• maternity leave

Related words

• maternal
• mother
• paternity
• fraternity

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins