newborn

Etymology

It is a compound from English new + born, of the adverb new, newly, and the adjective born;^[2][3][4] Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com trace it to a Middle English compound.^[4][5] The OED compares similar compounds in other Germanic languages: Middle Dutch nieuboren (modern nieuwgeboren), Old High German niuwiboran and Old Norse nýborinn, and also French nouveau-né, recorded in Old French about 1225.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Recently born; just brought into the world: a1400, in the Cursor Mundi.^[2][6] Etymonline dates the adjective to about 1300,^[3] Dictionary.com to 1250–1300,^[5] and Merriam-Webster to the 14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Already in late Middle English the adjective was used of spiritual rebirth, "born again, regenerated" (c1480, in a Scots legend of Saint Justina),^[2][6] and by the late 16th century it was applied figuratively to anything newly come into being, as in Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella (a1586).^[2] The noun came later: the newborn, newborn babies or animals as a class, is recorded from 1768, in John Wesley's Journal,^[2][4][6] and a single newborn child or animal from 1893, in W. B. Yeats's Celtic Twilight;^[2][6] Etymonline dates the noun to 1879.^[3] Collins still lists the sense "reborn" for hope or faith.^[7]

Timeline

• a1400 – recently born.^[2]
• c1480 – born again, regenerated.^[2]
• a1586 – figurative, newly come into being.^[2]
• 1768 – the newborn, newborn babies as a class.^[2][4]
• 1879 – Etymonline's date for the noun.^[3]
• 1893 – a newborn child or animal.^[2][6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Recently or just born: a newborn lamb.
2. Of hope, faith or a person's spirit, reborn or renewed.

Noun

1. A newborn child or animal; a neonate.
2. the newborn: newborn babies as a group.

Related words

• new
• born
• bear

Usage notes

The Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary stresses it /ˌnjuːˈbɔːn/ in British English, with the stress shifting to the first syllable before a noun (a newborn baby), while American English stresses the first syllable.^[8]

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 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 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. ^ a b c d e Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press