pregnant
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See also: prégnant
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English preignant, from Old French preignant, pregnant, also prenant (compare archaic Modern French prégnant), and their source, Latin praegnāns (“pregnant”), probably from prae- (“pre-”) + *gnāscī, an archaic form of nāscī (“to be born”). Displaced Old English bearnēacen (literally "child-enlarged").
Adjective[edit]
pregnant (comparative more pregnant, superlative most pregnant)
- (chiefly not comparable) Carrying developing offspring within the body.
- 2017 July 13, Bonnie Rochman, “Mothers-To-Be Aren’t Told Enough About Genetic Testing”, in Time[1]:
- Once upon a time, not so long ago, women got pregnant and spent nine months in suspense before finding out if they were having a boy or a girl. But today? That waiting game is completely outdated, even quaint.
- I went to the doctor and, guess what, I’m pregnant!
- Of a couple: expecting a baby together.
- We are pregnant.
- (comparable) Having numerous possibilities or implications; full of promise; abounding in ability, resources, etc.
- a pregnant pause
- c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
- wherein the pregnant enemy does much
- 2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 8 April 2019:
- The many tear-jerkers deal with finality, with death and the end of love, with a stoicism pregnant with feeling.
- (poetic) Fertile, prolific (usually of soil, ground, etc.).
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- The sunne-beames bright vpon her body playd, / Being through former bathing mollifide, / And pierst into her wombe, where they embayd / With so sweet sence and secret power vnspide, / That in her pregnant flesh they shortly fructifide.
- (obsolete) Affording entrance; receptive; yielding; willing; open; prompt.
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:
- play at subtill games; faire vertues all;
To which the Grecians are most prompt and pregnant
- (obsolete) Ready-witted; clever; ingenious.
Synonyms[edit]
- (carrying offspring (standard)): expecting, expecting a baby, expectant, gravid (of animals only), with child, fertilized
- (carrying offspring (colloquial/slang)): eating for two, having a bun in the oven, in a family way, knocked up, preggers, up the duff, up the spout
- (carrying offspring (euphemistic)): in an interesting condition, in a family way
- (having many possibilities or implications): meaningful, significant
- See also Thesaurus:pregnant
Hyponyms[edit]
- (carrying developing offspring): in trouble
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
carrying developing offspring within the body
|
having many possibilities or implications
|
fertile — see fertile
Noun[edit]
pregnant (plural pregnants)
- A pregnant person.
- 1843, William Robert Wilde, Austria: Its Literary, Scientific, and Medical Institutions:
- The Entbundenen, or those already delivered, are separate from those pregnants awaiting their accouchement
Translations[edit]
pregnant person — see pregnant woman
Etymology 2[edit]
Apparently from Middle French pregnant, preignant (“pressing, compelling”), present participle of prembre (“to press”), from Latin premere (“to press”).
Adjective[edit]
pregnant (comparative more pregnant, superlative most pregnant)
- (now rare) Compelling; clear, evident. [from 14th c.]
- 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
- Peregrine was in a little time a distinguished character, not only for his acuteness of apprehension, but also for that mischievous fertility of fancy, of which we have already given such pregnant examples.
Dutch[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from Middle French pregnant, from Old French pregnant, from Latin praegnāns.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
pregnant (comparative pregnanter, superlative pregnantst)
Inflection[edit]
| Inflection of pregnant | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| uninflected | pregnant | |||
| inflected | pregnante | |||
| comparative | pregnanter | |||
| positive | comparative | superlative | ||
| predicative/adverbial | pregnant | pregnanter | het pregnantst het pregnantste | |
| indefinite | m./f. sing. | pregnante | pregnantere | pregnantste |
| n. sing. | pregnant | pregnanter | pregnantste | |
| plural | pregnante | pregnantere | pregnantste | |
| definite | pregnante | pregnantere | pregnantste | |
| partitive | pregnants | pregnanters | — | |
Romanian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowed from German prägnant and French prégnant.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
pregnant m or n (feminine singular pregnantă, masculine plural pregnanți, feminine and neuter plural pregnante)
Declension[edit]
Declension of pregnant
| singular | plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
| nominative/ accusative |
indefinite | pregnant | pregnantă | pregnanți | pregnante | ||
| definite | pregnantul | pregnanta | pregnanții | pregnantele | |||
| genitive/ dative |
indefinite | pregnant | pregnante | pregnanți | pregnante | ||
| definite | pregnantului | pregnantei | pregnanților | pregnantilor | |||
References[edit]
- pregnant in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)
Swedish[edit]
Adjective[edit]
pregnant (comparative pregnantare, superlative pregnantast)
- pregnant (clear and pithy, of an expression, language, or the like)
- striking (distinctive, pronounced)
Usage notes[edit]
Pregnant as in carrying a baby is gravid (of a human) or dräktig (of an animal).
Declension[edit]
| Inflection of pregnant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Indefinite | Positive | Comparative | Superlative2 |
| Common singular | pregnant | pregnantare | pregnantast |
| Neuter singular | pregnant | pregnantare | pregnantast |
| Plural | pregnanta | pregnantare | pregnantast |
| Masculine plural3 | pregnante | pregnantare | pregnantast |
| Definite | Positive | Comparative | Superlative |
| Masculine singular1 | pregnante | pregnantare | pregnantaste |
| All | pregnanta | pregnantare | pregnantaste |
| 1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine. 2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. 3) Dated or archaic | |||
References[edit]
Categories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛɡnənt
- Rhymes:English/ɛɡnənt/2 syllables
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- English poetic terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms with rare senses
- en:Pregnancy
- Dutch terms borrowed from Middle French
- Dutch terms derived from Middle French
- Dutch terms derived from Old French
- Dutch terms derived from Latin
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/ɑnt
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch adjectives
- Dutch terms with obsolete senses
- Romanian terms borrowed from German
- Romanian terms derived from German
- Romanian terms borrowed from French
- Romanian terms derived from French
- Romanian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Romanian/ant
- Rhymes:Romanian/ant/2 syllables
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian adjectives
- Romanian literary terms
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish adjectives