pregnant

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpreɡ.nənt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin praegnāns (“with child”) (stem praegnant-),^[2][3][4] originally praegnās, altered under the influence of the participle ending -āns,^[4][5] literally “before birth”, probably from prae- “before” and the root of gnāscī, nāscī “to be born”,^[2][3][6] from Proto-Indo-European *gene- (“to give birth, beget”).^[2] The earlier sense “cogent, convincing” came through Old French preignant “pregnant, pithy”,^[2] which Etymonline takes as probably the same Latin word;^[2] Hoad and Merriam-Webster derive it instead from preindre “to press”, from Latin premere, the source of press.^[5][4] It is related to native and nascent.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of an argument or evidence, convincing or compelling: about 1374 in the OED, about 1385 in Barnhart, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.^[7][3] With child: probably before 1425 in Barnhart, in a translation of Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie,^[3] the early 15th century in Etymonline,^[2] 1545 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Full of meaning, weighty, is from 1402,^[3] about 1400 in Etymonline.^[2] Of a mind, teeming with ideas, is from 1413, as in pregnant wit, common in the 16th and 17th centuries.^[7] Fertile soil and fertilized seed were also called pregnant in the 17th century, senses now obsolete.^[7] The word tended to be avoided in polite conversation until about 1950, replaced by euphemisms such as expecting, in a family way and in an interesting condition;^[2] Old English said mid bearne, “with child”, or bearn-eaca, “child-increasing”.^[2] Pregnancy is from before 1529, in Skelton, figuratively, and of a woman from 1598.^[3] In Scots it meant full or clever.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – convincing.^[7]
• 1402 – full of meaning.^[3]
• 1413 – full of ideas.^[7]
• a. 1425 – with child.^[3]
• 1529 – pregnancy.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Carrying developing offspring in the body; with child or with young.
2. Full of meaning; significant: a pregnant pause.
3. Filled or fraught: pregnant with danger.
4. (archaic) Convincing; cogent.
5. Full of ideas; inventive.

Word family

• pregnantly
• pregnantness
• nonpregnant
• unpregnant
• impregnant

Related words

• impregnate
• pregnancy
• native
• nascent
• press

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)