Etymologically
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newborn

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 21:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌnjuːˈbɔːn/[1]
  • US: /ˈnuːbɔːrn/, /ˈnjuːbɔːrn/[1]

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.

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