godmother

English

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

Related terms

• godchild
• goddaughter
• godfather
• godparent
• godson

Translations

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

• Asturian: madrina (ast) f
• Basque: amabitxi (eu)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 乾娘 (cmn), 干娘 (cmn) (gānniáng), 教母 (cmn) (jiàomǔ)

• Czech: kmotra (cs) f
• Danish: gudmor (da), gudmoder (da)
• Dutch: meter (nl) f
• Esperanto: baptopatrino (eo)
• Finnish: kummitäti (fi)
• French: marraine (fr) f
• German: Patin (de) f, Patentante (de) f
• Greek: νονά (el) (noná) f 
• Italian: comare (it) f, madrina (it) f
• Japanese: 教母 (ja) (きょうぼ, kyōbo), 代母 (ja) (だいぼ, daibo)
• Jèrriais: mârraine f
• Latvian: krustmāte (lv)

• Macedonian: кума (mk) (kúma) f
• Occitan: mairina (oc) f
• 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
• Russian: крёстная мать (ru) (krjóstnaja mat’) f 
• Scottish Gaelic: muime f, màthair-bhaiste f
• Slovak: krstná mama (sk) f (reflects the relationship to the baptized child); kmotra (sk) f (reflects the relationship to the parents of the baptized child, not to the child)
• Spanish: madrina (es) f
• Swedish: gudmor (sv) c, gudmoder (sv) c
• Taos: kumàyli’ína
• Volapük: (male or female) spönan (vo), (female) jispönan (vo)

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.

See also

• Godmother on Wikipedia.Wikipedia