neonatal

Etymology

It is formed from English neo- + natal,^[2][3][4][5] after New Latin neonātus (“newborn”), which the OED finds in 1848 or earlier.^[2] Chambers derives it from the New Latin word, a compound of Ancient Greek νέος (néos, “new”) and nātus (“born”).^[6] Natal is from Latin nātālis (“of or belonging to birth”), from the past participial stem of nāscor (“to be born”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Relating to newborn children: Etymonline dates the word, also spelled neo-natal, to 1883.^[3] The OED's first quotation is from 1894, in A. Duane's Student's Dictionary of Medicine,^[2] the date Merriam-Webster Unabridged also gives;^[4] the Collegiate gives 1902^[7] and Dictionary.com 1900–05.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In its first sense the word applied to newborn or recently born humans or animals;^[2] from 1902, in the Encyclopædia Britannica, it also named the period just after birth.^[2] Dictionaries fix that period differently: Collins speaks of the first week of life and up to four weeks,^[8] Black's Law Dictionary of the first four weeks,^[9] and Merriam-Webster of the first month after birth.^[4] Merriam-Webster compares the parallel formations antenatal, intranatal and postnatal.^[4]

Timeline

• 1883 – relating to newborn children, also spelled neo-natal.^[3] The OED's first quotation is from 1894.^[2][4]
• 1902 – relating to the period just after birth.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to or affecting newborn children, especially in the first four weeks after birth: The hospital opened a new neonatal ward.^[8][4][10]
2. Relating to the period just after birth.^[2][4]
3. Of or relating to newborn animals.^[2]

Word family

• neonatally
• postneonatal

Related words

• antenatal
• natal
• perinatal
• prenatal
• postnatal
• neonate
• nascent
• native
• neo-

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt