Link Centre Dictionary

midwife

mid·wife

UK/ˈmɪd.waɪf/ US/ˈmɪd.(w)ɪf/ fairly common

noun

1.

a woman skilled in aiding the delivery of babies

Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English midwif, corresponding to mid (“with”) + wif (“woman, wife, female”). It appears not to be entirely clear whether the original understanding was “with-woman” in the sense of “attending/assisting woman”, or “they who are with the woman” (namely the mother).

Phrases

  • midwife frog
  • midwife toad

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.