breastfeed

See also: breast-feed and breast feed

English

Alternative forms

• breast feed, breast-feed

Etymology

From breast +‎ feed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹɛs(t)fiːd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

breastfeed (third-person singular simple present breastfeeds, present participle breastfeeding, simple past and past participle breastfed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To feed (a baby) milk via the breasts; to suckle; to nurse.

   This is a designated place for mothers to breastfeed their babies.

   She stopped breastfeeding after a few months.

   • 1989 February 6, Jonathan Frakes, Brian Thompson, A Matter of Honor (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Paramount Domestic Television, →OCLC:

     RIKER: Isn't that gagh?
     KLAG: Very good. You did some research on our nutritional choices.
     RIKER: Yes but- it's still moving.
     KLAG: Gagh is always best when served live. Would you like something easier?
     RIKER: Easier?
     KLAG: Yes, if Klingon food is too strong for you, perhaps we could get one of the females to breast feed you.

2. (chiefly of a baby, intransitive) To nurse, to suck milk from a breast.
   • 2013, Baby-Led Breastfeeding: Follow Your Baby’s Instincts, →ISBN, page 281:

     Avoid using a bottle until confident your baby is breastfeeding effectively.

Synonyms

• boobfeed (informal)

Translations

feed a baby milk via the breasts

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: أَرْضَعَ (ʔarḍaʕa)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Aromanian: alãptedz
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: къ́рмя (bg) impf (kǎ́rmja), доя́ (bg) impf (dojá)
• Catalan: alletar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 餵奶／喂奶 (zh) (wèinǎi), 哺乳 (zh) (bǔrǔ), 母乳餵養／母乳喂养 (zh) (mǔrǔ wèiyǎng)

• Czech: kojit (cs) impf
• Danish: amme (da)
• Dutch: borstvoeding geven, de borst geven, zogen (nl)
• Esperanto: mamnutri
• Faroese: geva bróst
• Finnish: imettää (fi)
• French: allaiter (fr), donner la tétée, donner le sein (fr)

  Old French: alaitier

• Galician: aleitar (gl)
• Georgian: ძუძუთი კვებავს (ʒuʒuti ḳvebavs), ძუძუს აწოვებს (ʒuʒus ac̣ovebs)
• German: stillen (de), die Brust geben
• Greek: θηλάζω (el) (thilázo)

  Ancient: θηλάζω (thēlázō)

• Gujarati: ધાવવું (dhāvvũ), ધવરાવવું (dhavrāvvũ)
• Hebrew: הניק (heník)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: szoptat (hu)
• Icelandic: leggja á brjóst, gefa brjóst
• Ido: alaktar (io)
• Indonesian: menyusui (id), menetek (id)
• Irish: cothaigh, brollach a thabhairt do, beathú cíche a thabhairt do
• Italian: allattare (it), allattare al seno
• Japanese: 授乳する (ja) (じゅにゅうする, junyū suru)
• Kazakh: емізу (emızu)
• Korean: 모유로 키우다 (moyu-ro kiuda)
• Latin: nūtriō, alō (la)
• Latvian: zīdīt
• Macedonian: дои impf (doi)
• Malay: menyusui
• Maori: whāngote, whakangote
• Norwegian: amme (no)
• Old Church Slavonic: доити (doiti)
• Old French: alaitier
• Polish: karmić piersią impf
• Portuguese: amamentar (pt), dar de mamar, aleitar (pt), lactar (pt)
• Romani: chuchi del
• Romanian: alăpta (ro)
• Russian: корми́ть гру́дью impf (kormítʹ grúdʹju)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: до̀јити

  Roman: dòjiti (sh)

• Slovak: dojčiť impf
• Slovene: dojiti (sl)
• Spanish: dar teta, dar de mamar, lactar (es), dar el pecho, amamantar (es)
• Swedish: amma (sv)
• Tagalog: umut-ot, ut-utin, magpasuso
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: emzirmek (tr)
• Ukrainian: годувати грудьми impf (hoduvaty hrudʹmy)
• Vietnamese: bú (vi)
• Volapük: blöto nulüdön
• Welsh: bwydo o'r fron

Noun

breastfeed (plural breastfeeds)

1. An instance of feeding milk to a baby from the breasts; a breastfeeding.