pregnant English · revision 4502

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1374|origins=la praegnans}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈpreɡ.nənt/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|praegnāns|t=with child]] (stem praegnant-),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) originally praegnās, altered under the influence of the participle ending -āns,^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986) literally “before birth”, probably from prae- “before” and the root of gnāscī, nāscī “to be born”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998) from [[ine-pro|*ǵenh₁-|alt=*gene-|t=to give birth, beget]].^(Etymonline) The earlier sense “cogent, convincing” came through Old French preignant “pregnant, pithy”,^(Etymonline) which Etymonline takes as probably the same Latin word;^(Etymonline) Hoad and Merriam-Webster derive it instead from preindre “to press”, from Latin premere, the source of [[press]].^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) It is related to [[native]] and [[nascent]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==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.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) With child: probably before 1425 in Barnhart, in a translation of Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie,^(Barnhart 1988) the early 15th century in Etymonline,^(Etymonline) 1545 in the OED.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Full of meaning, weighty, is from 1402,^(Barnhart 1988) about 1400 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline) Of a mind, teeming with ideas, is from 1413, as in ''pregnant wit'', common in the 16th and 17th centuries.^(OED 1989) Fertile soil and fertilized seed were also called pregnant in the 17th century, senses now obsolete.^(OED 1989) 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'';^(Etymonline) Old English said mid bearne, “with child”, or bearn-eaca, “child-increasing”.^(Etymonline) ''Pregnancy'' is from before 1529, in Skelton, figuratively, and of a woman from 1598.^(Barnhart 1988) In Scots it meant full or clever.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1374 – convincing.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1402 – full of meaning.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1413 – full of ideas.^(OED 1989)

+ * a. 1425 – with child.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1529 – ''pregnancy''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Carrying developing [[offspring]] in the body; with child or with young.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Full of meaning; significant: ''a pregnant pause''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Filled or fraught: ''pregnant with danger''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(archaic)'' Convincing; [[cogent]].^(AHD)

+ # Full of ideas; inventive.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pregnantly]]

+ * [[pregnantness]]

+ * [[nonpregnant]]

+ * [[unpregnant]]

+ * [[impregnant]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[impregnate]]

+ * [[pregnancy]]

+ * [[native]]

+ * [[nascent]]

+ * [[press]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}