newborn English · revision 39681

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=a1400, Cursor Mundi}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˌnjuːˈbɔːn/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈnuːbɔːrn/, /ˈnjuːbɔːrn/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound [[af|en|new|born]], of the adverb ''new'', newly, and the adjective ''born'';^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com trace it to a Middle English compound.^(MWU 2024)^(Dictionary.com 2016) The OED compares similar compounds in other Germanic languages: [[dum|nieuboren]] (modern [[m|nl|nieuwgeboren]]), [[goh|niuwiboran]] and [[non|nýborinn]], and also [[fr|nouveau-né]], recorded in Old French about 1225.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Recently born; just brought into the world: a1400, in the ''Cursor Mundi''.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) Etymonline dates the adjective to about 1300,^(Etymonline) Dictionary.com to 1250–1300,^(Dictionary.com 2016) and Merriam-Webster to the 14th century.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==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),^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) 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).^(OED 2026) The noun came later: ''the newborn'', newborn babies or animals as a class, is recorded from 1768, in John Wesley's ''Journal'',^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)^(HTOED) and a single newborn child or animal from 1893, in W. B. Yeats's ''Celtic Twilight'';^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) Etymonline dates the noun to 1879.^(Etymonline) Collins still lists the sense "reborn" for hope or faith.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * a1400 – recently born.^(OED 2026)

+ * c1480 – born again, regenerated.^(OED 2026)

+ * a1586 – figurative, newly come into being.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1768 – ''the newborn'', newborn babies as a class.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ * 1879 – Etymonline's date for the noun.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1893 – a newborn child or animal.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Recently or just [[born]]: ''a newborn lamb''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # Of hope, faith or a person's spirit, [[reborn]] or renewed.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A newborn child or animal; a [[neonate]].^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # ''the newborn'': newborn babies as a group.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==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.^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}