godmother

English

Etymology

From Middle English godmoder, from Old English godmōdor (“godmother”), equivalent to god- +‎ mother. Cognate with Old High German gotmuoter (“godmother”), Old Norse guðmóðir (“godmother”), Icelandic guðmóður (“godmother”), Swedish gudmoder (“godmother”), Danish gudmor (“godmother”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒdmʌðə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: god‧mother

Noun

godmother (plural godmothers)

1. A woman present at the christening of a baby who promises to help raise the child in a Christian manner; a female godparent who sponsors the baptism of a child.

Synonyms

• co-mother
• cummer

Hypernyms

• godparent

Derived terms

• faerie godmother
• fairy godmother
• horse-godmother

 

Related terms

• godfather
• godchild
• goddaughter
• godsib
• godson

Translations

woman present at the christening of a baby who promises to help raise the child in a Christian manner

• Armenian: կնքամայր (hy) (knkʻamayr)
• Asturian: madrina (ast) f
• Basque: amabitxi (eu)
• Catalan: padrina (ca) f
• Chavacano: padrina
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 乾娘／干娘 (gānniáng), 教母 (zh) (jiàomǔ)

• Czech: kmotra (cs) f
• Danish: gudmor, gudmoder
• Dutch: meter (nl) f
• Esperanto: baptopatrino
• Finnish: kummitäti (fi)
• French: marraine (fr) f
• Galician: madriña f
• Georgian: ნათლიდედა (natlideda), ნათლია n (natlia)
• German: Patin (de) f, Patentante (de) f, Taufpatin (de) f, Gotte (de) f (Swiss, Alemannic), Firmgodl f (Austrian), Firmpatin (de) f, Godel f (South German), Godl (de) f (Austrian, Bavarian), Gote (de) f (regional), Taufgodl f (Austrian), Gevatterin (de) f
• Greek: νονά (el) f (noná)
• Hungarian: keresztanya (hu)
• Ido: baptomatro (io)
• Indonesian: ibu baptis
• Ingrian: naiskooma
• Irish: máthair bhaistí f
• Italian: comare (it) f (godmother of one's child), madrina (it) f (one's own godmother)
• Japanese: 教母 (きょうぼ, kyōbo), 代母 (だいぼ, daibo)
• Javanese: nini among
• Latin: matrina f
• Latvian: krustmāte
• Macedonian: кума f (kuma)
• Norman: mârraine f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: gudmor m or f

  Nynorsk: gudmor f

• Occitan: mairina (oc) f
• Persian: مادرخوانده (fa) (mâdarxânde), مادرندر (mâdarandar)
• Polish: matka chrzestna (pl), chrzestna (pl) f
• Portuguese: madrinha (pt) f (reflects the relationship to the baptized child); comadre (pt) f (reflects the relationship to the parents of the baptized child, not to the child)
• Romanian: nașă (ro) f, nună (ro) f
• Romansch: madritscha f, madretscha f
• Russian: крёстная мать f (krjóstnaja matʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: muime f, màthair-bhaiste f, bana-ghoistidh m
• Sicilian: cummari f or f pl (godmother of one's child), madrina f (one's own godmother)
• Slovak: krstná mama f (reflects the relationship to the baptized child); kmotra f (reflects the relationship to the parents of the baptized child, not to the child)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: kmótša f

• Spanish: madrina (es) f, comadre (es) f
• Swedish: gudmor (sv) c, gudmoder (sv) c
• Tagalog: inaama, ninang (tl), madrina
• Taos: kumàyliʼína
• Thai: แม่ทูนหัว (th) (mɛ̂ɛ-tuun-hǔua), แม่อุปถัมภ์ (mɛ̂ɛ-ù-bpà-tǎm)
• Ukrainian: хрещена мати f (xreščena maty), хрещена f (xreščena), матка f (matka), кума f (kuma)
• Vietnamese: mẹ đỡ đầu (vi)
• Volapük: spönan (vo) m or f, jispönan f
• Welsh: mam fedydd f

Verb

godmother (third-person singular simple present godmothers, present participle godmothering, simple past and past participle godmothered)

1. (transitive) To act as godmother to.
   • 1909, H. G. Wells, Tono-Bungay:

     The servants took to her – as they say – she godmothered three Susans during her rule, the coachman's, the gardener's and the Up Hill gamekeeper's.

References

• godmother on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Middle English

Noun

godmother

1. (Late Middle English) Alternative form of godmoder