midwife

English

Etymology

From Old English [Term?], corresponding to mid (“with”) + wīf (“woman”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪd.waɪf/

Noun

midwife (plural midwives)

1. A person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth, but who is not a physician.

   A hundred years ago, a midwife would bring the baby into the world - going to a hospital to deliver a baby was either impossible or unheard of.

2. (rare, figuratively) Someone who assists in bringing about some result or project.

Synonyms

• accoucheuse

Coordinate terms

• accoucheur
• man-midwife

Derived terms

• midwife toad
• midwifery

Related terms

• midhusband

Translations

person who assists women in childbirth

• Afrikaans: vroedvrou
• Alabama: tayyi alikchi
• Albanian: mami (sq) f, babo (sq) f
• Arabic: قَابِلَة‎ f (qābila)

  Egyptian Arabic: ولادة‎ f (wallāda), داية‎ f (dāya),

• Armenian: տատմեր (hy) (tatmer), մանկաբարձուհի (hy) (mankabarjuhi)
• Basque: emagin (eu)
• Belarusian: акушэ́рка f (akušérka)
• Bulgarian: акуше́рка (bg) f (akušérka)
• Burmese: လက်သည် (my) (laksany), ဝမ်းဆွဲ (my) (wam:hcwai:)
• Catalan: llevadora (ca) f
• Central Melanau: bidan
• Chamicuro: kumali
• Chichewa: zamba
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 接生婆 (zip³ saang¹ po^4-2), 執媽, 执妈 (zap¹ maa¹), 執仔婆, 执仔婆 (zap¹ zai² po^4-2), 助產士, 助产士 (zo⁶ caan² si⁶)

  Mandarin: 助產士 (zh), 助产士 (zh) (zhùchǎnshì), 接生員, 接生员 (jiēshēngyuán), 接生婆 (jiēshēngpó), 穩婆 (zh), 稳婆 (zh) (wěnpó), 產婆 (zh), 产婆 (zh) (chǎnpó)

  Min Nan: 助產士 (chō͘-sán-sū), 抾囝母 (khioh-kiáⁿ-bú), 產婆 (sán-pô)

• Czech: porodní bába (cs) f
• Danish: jordemoder (da) c, jordemor c
• Dutch: verloskundige (nl) m or f, vroedvrouw (nl) f
• Esperanto: (male or female) akuŝisto (eo), (female) akuŝistino (eo)
• Estonian: ämmaemand (et)
• Faroese: ljósmóðir f, jarðarmóðir f, nærkona f
• Finnish: kätilö (fi)
• French: sage-femme (fr) f, sage-femme homme (fr) m, accoucheur (fr) m, accoucheuse (fr) f
• Georgian: ბებიაქალი (ka) (bebiakali)
• German: Hebamme (de) f, Entbindungspfleger (de) m, Entbindungspflegerin (de) f, Geburtshelfer (de) m, Geburtshelferin (de) f, Entbindungshelfer m, Entbindungshelferin f
• Gilbertese: tia kabung
• Greek: μαία (el) f (maía), μαμή (el) f (mamí)

  Ancient: μαῖα f (maîa)

• Hebrew: מיילדת \ מְיַלֶּדֶת‎ f (meyalédet)
• Hindi: प्रसाविका f (prasāvikā)
• Hungarian: bába (hu), szülésznő (hu)
• Ido: (male or female) akushisto (io), (male) akushistulo, (female) akushistino (io)
• Indonesian: bidan (id)
• Interlingue: acuchera
• Irish: bean chabhrach f, bean ghlúine f, cnáimhseach f
• Italian: ostetrica (it) f, levatrice (it) f
• Japanese: 助産婦 (ja) (じょさんぷ, josanpu), 産婆 (さんば, sanba), 助産師 (ja) (じょさんし, josanshi)

• Korean: 조산부 (josanbu), 산파 (sanpa), 조산사 (josansa)
• Lao: ນາງຜະດຸງຄັນ (nāng pha dung khan)
• Latin: obstetrīx f
• Latvian: vecmāte f
• Luxembourgish: Hiewan f
• Macedonian: бабица f (babica), акушерка f (akušerka)
• Malay: bidan, pengulin, dukun beranak
• Malayalam: വയറ്റാട്ടി (ml) (vayaṟṟāṭṭi)
• Maltese: qabla f
• Maori: kaiwhakawhanau, wahine whakawhanau
• Navajo: awééʼ hayiidzį́sí, asdzání ʼiʼiiłchíhí, awééʼ hayiiníłí
• Neapolitan: mammana f, vammana f
• Ngarrindjeri: putari
• Norman: accouocheuse f, gardgienne f, sage-femme f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: jordmor (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: jordmor f

• Persian: ماما‎ (fa) (mâmâ), پازاچ‎ (fa) (pâzâč)
• Polish: akuszer (pl) m, akuszerka (pl) f, położna (pl) f
• Portuguese: parteira (pt) f
• Romanian: moașă (ro) f
• Russian: акуше́р (ru) m (akušér) (male), акуше́рка (ru) f (akušérka) (female), повиту́ха (ru) f (povitúxa) (rural), повива́льная ба́бка (ru) f (poviválʹnaja bábka) (rural)
• Saanich: NIȽ ȻENT Ȼ SĆḴAḴS
• Scottish Gaelic: muime f, bean-ghlùine f
• Serbo-Croatian: primalja (sh) f

  Cyrillic: бабица f

  Roman: babica (sh) f

• Slovak: pôrodná asistentka f
• Slovene: babica (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: babka f

• Spanish: partera (es) f, comadrona f, matrona (es) f
• Swedish: barnmorska (sv) c
• Tagalog: kumadrona
• Telugu: మంత్రసాని (te) (mantrasāni)
• Thai: ตำแย (dtam-yɛɛ)
• Turkish: ebe (tr)
• Ukrainian: акуше́рка (uk) f (akušérka)
• Vietnamese: bà đỡ (vi), bà mụ, bà đỡ đẻ
• Welsh: bydwraig f
• West Frisian: hoarnwiif n, ferloskundige c
• Westrobothnian: ljusmor f, nerkuno f
• Yiddish: הײַבאַם‎ f (haybam), אַקושערקע‎ f (akusherke), אַקושערין‎ f (akusherin)

person who assists in bringing something about

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: fødselshjælper c

• Finnish: kätilö (fi)
• Norwegian: fødselshjelper m
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

Verb

midwife (third-person singular simple present midwives or midwifes, present participle midwiving or midwifing, simple past and past participle midwived or midwifed)

1. (transitive) To act as a midwife
2. (transitive, figuratively) to facilitate the emergence of

   But the bigger objective was to help Iraqis midwife a democratic model that could inspire reform across the Arab-Muslim world and give the youth there a chance at a better future.

   Thomas L. Friedman. "Attention: Baby on Board." New York Times. April 13, 2010.

Usage notes

While elementary students are taught "replace 'f' with 'v'," the mistake resulting in "midwifed" is made often enough in informal/colloquial language to indicate the rule is not consistently followed.

Translations

to act as a midwife

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 助產 (zh), 助产 (zh) (zhùchǎn), 接生 (zh) (jiēshēng)

• Finnish: avustaa synnytyksessä, kätilöidä
• German: Hebamme (de) f
• Hebrew: יילד \ יִלֵּד‎ m (yiléd)
• Hindi: dai (dai)

• Hungarian: bábáskodik (hu)
• Romanian: moși (ro)
• Russian: акуше́рствовать (ru) impf (akušérstvovatʹ)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: đỡ đẻ

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Azerbaijani: ^{(please verify)} mama (az)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 산파 (sanpa)
• Mongolian: ^{(please verify)} эх баригч (eh barigč)
• Neapolitan: ^{(please verify)} vammàna
• Papiamentu: ^{(please verify)} partera

• Persian: ^{(please verify)} ﺎﻤﺎﻤ‎
• Swahili: ^{(please verify)} mkunga (sw)
• Tagalog: ^{(please verify)} hilot
• Thai: ^{(please verify)} นางพยาบาลผดุงครรภ์ (naang pá-yaa-baan pà-doong kan)
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} bydwraig

See also

• doula
• obstetrician
• obstetrics