obstetrics

Etymology

It is formed from English obstetric + -ics,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged describe as the adjective with the plural ending -s,^[7][8] on the model of Latin obstetrīcia (“midwifery”).^[7] The OED compares the later French obstétrique (1834).^[2] The adjective obstetric, first recorded in 1742 in Pope's “New Dunciad”, is from New Latin obstetricus (“of a midwife”),^[2][3][7] an alteration of Latin obstetrīcius,^[2][9] from obstetrīx (“midwife”), literally "one who stands opposite" the woman giving birth,^[3][7] from obstō (“to stand opposite to”),^[3][7][9] formed from ob- (“opposite to”) and stō (“to stand”),^[9] from Proto-Indo-European *stā- (“to stand”).^[9] The same Latin verb is the source of obstacle.^[7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The theory or practice of midwifery: 1813, in the Pantologia of J. M. Good and others.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1816,^[8] Barnhart and Etymonline to 1819.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first named midwifery, the craft of assisting at births;^[2][7] later it came to mean the branch of medicine that deals with the care of women during pregnancy, childbirth and the period after it.^[2][5] The specialist, obstetrician, was named in 1828, in Webster's dictionary, after the pattern of physician.^[7]

Timeline

• 1813 – the theory or practice of midwifery.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates it to 1816, Barnhart and Etymonline to 1819.^[8][7][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The branch of medicine that deals with pregnancy, childbirth and the care of the mother before and after birth; used with a singular verb: Obstetrics was her chosen specialty.^{[10][8][5][2]}

Word family

• OB-GYN

Related words

• obstetrician
• obstacle

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins