Where does “maternity” come from?
Maternity derives from French maternité, from Latin maternitas, formed from the Latin adjective maternus with the suffix -tas, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European méh₂tēr meaning mother.
maternity (English): The state of being a mother; motherhood; The...
Definitions
- The state of being a mother; motherhood; The...
Ancestry of “maternity”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | French | maternité | maternity; maternity ward |
| 2 | Latin | māternitās | — |
| 3 | Latin | -tās | — |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ts | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -tós | Creates verbal adjectives from verb stems |
Words derived from “maternity”