mother

English Online Dictionary. What means mother‎? What does mother mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌðə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌðɚ/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈmɐðə/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈmʊðə/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈmʊðəɹ/
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌðəɹ/
• Rhymes: -ʌðə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: moth‧er

Etymology 1

From Middle English moder, from Old English mōdor, from Proto-West Germanic *mōder, from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr, from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr. Doublet of Madeira, mata, mater, matrix, and matter.

Some have proposed that the "dregs" sense is from Middle Dutch modder (“filth”), from Proto-Germanic *muþraz (“sediment”), but modder is not known in this meaning. On the other hand, words for "mother" have developed the secondary sense of "dregs" in several Romance and Germanic languages; compare Dutch moer, French mère de vinaigre, German Essigmutter, Italian madre, Medieval Latin māter, and Spanish madre.

Alternative forms

• mither (Scotland and Northern England)

Noun

mother (plural mothers)

2. A female parent, especially of a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, or fostered).

   Hyponym: matron

3. A female who has given birth to a baby; this person in relation to her child or children.

   Hyponym: matron
4. A pregnant female; mother-to-be; a female who gestates a baby.
5. A female who donates a fertilized egg or donates a body cell which has resulted in a clone.

   Synonym: biological mother

6. (figuratively) A female ancestor.

   Coordinate term: matriarch
7. (figuratively) A source or origin.

   Near-synonym: matrix
8. Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind. (See mother of all.)

   Near-synonym: Big One

   • 1991, January 17, Saddam Hussein, Broadcast on Baghdad state radio.

     The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun.

9. (dated, when followed by a surname) A title of respect for one's mother-in-law.

10. (dated) A term of address for one's wife.
11. (figuratively) Any elderly woman, especially within a particular community.

    Near-synonyms: matron, matriarch

12. (figuratively) Any person or entity which performs mothering.

    Hypernym: parent

    Hyponym: surrogate mother

    • Judges 5:7, KJV.

      The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

    • Galatians 4:26, KJV.

      Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

14. Dregs, lees; a stringy, mucilaginous or film- or membrane-like substance (consisting of a culture of acetobacters) which develops in fermenting alcoholic liquids (such as wine, or cider), and turns the alcohol into acetic acid with the help of oxygen from the air.

    Hyponyms: mother of vinegar; starter

15. (rail transport) A locomotive which provides electrical power for a slug.
16. The principal piece of an astrolabe, into which the others are fixed.
17. The female superior or head of a religious house; an abbess, etc.
18. (obsolete) Hysterical passion; hysteria; the uterus.
19. A disc produced from the electrotyped master, used in manufacturing phonograph records.

    Hypernym: master copy

20. (Stan Twitter, originally drag slang) A person who is admired, respected, or looked up to within a particular fandom or community; see also: serve cunt

Synonyms

• (one’s female parent): See also Thesaurus:mother
• (most significant thing): father, grandfather, granddaddy
• (of or pertaining to the mother, such as metropolis): metro-

Antonyms

• (with regards to gender) father
• (with regards to ancestry) daughter, son, child, offspring

Hypernyms

• (a female parent): parent

Coordinate terms

• (a female parent): father

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Australian Kriol: motha
• → Japanese: マザー (mazā)
• → Korean: 마더 (madeo)

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English modren, from the noun (see above).

Verb

mother (third-person singular simple present mothers, present participle mothering, simple past and past participle mothered)

1. (chiefly transitive) To give birth to or produce (as its female parent) a child. (Compare father.)
2. (transitive) To treat as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture.
3. (transitive) To cause to contain mother (“that substance which develops in fermenting alcohol and turns it into vinegar”).

4. (intransitive, of an alcohol) To develop mother.

Translations

References

• American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company 2003.

Etymology 3

Clipping of motherfucker

Alternative forms

• mutha

Noun

mother (plural mothers)

1. (euphemistic, mildly vulgar, slang) Motherfucker.
2. (euphemistic, colloquial) A striking example. (Appears as "mother of a(n) __".)

Synonyms

• MF, mofo, motherfucker, mutha

Translations

Etymology 4

Coined from moth by analogy to mouser.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɒθə(ɹ)/

Noun

mother (plural mothers)

1. Alternative form of moth-er

References

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “mother”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• thermo-

Middle English

Noun

mother

1. (Late Middle English) Alternative form of moder

Scots

Noun

mother

1. Alternative form of mither

References

• “mother, n.1.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, retrieved 23 May 2024, reproduced from William A[lexander] Craigie, A[dam] J[ack] Aitken [et al.], editors, A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1931–2002, →OCLC.