birth

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Although childbirth is a universal fact of human physiology, where, how, with whom, and even when a woman gives birth are often culturally determined.

Anthropological awareness of the social nature of human birth owes much to the pioneering work of Wenda Trevathan, an evolutionary anthropologist who studied the differences between human and higher primate birth. Because higher primates walk on all fours, their pelvis is wide enough to allow the direct descent of the fetal head, making for easy labours and uncomplicated births. When humans began to walk on two feet, the upright stance they had to adopt made the pelvis narrower, so that the baby has to rotate as it descends in order to pass through. Non-human primate babies can climb onto their mothers' backs and cling immediately after birth, but the larger brains of human infants made it necessary for them to be born earlier in their developmental cycle, ensuring that human babies would be relatively helpless at birth and require immediate nurturing. These factors encouraged the evolution of birth as a highly social process; women give birth alone and unaided in only a very few societies.

For these reasons, Trevathan postulated that midwifery evolved along with human birth. The presence of other women would have enhanced the success of the birth process as these women acquired skills such as turning the baby in utero to ensure the optimal position for birth, assisting rotation of the head and shoulders at birth, massaging the mother's uterus and administering herbs to stop postpartum bleeding, and facilitating breastfeeding. Trevathan suggests that more mothers and babies would have survived in societies that developed midwifery traditions early on, giving such societies a distinct evolutionary advantage.

Both ancient and contemporary figurines and paintings from indigenous cultures all over the world show women giving birth upright: kneeling, sitting on a low stool or chair, or standing with women behind or on either side of them to hold and support them with a midwife kneeling in front with her hands out, waiting to catch the baby. This upright position, with its physiological advantages of facilitating fetal rotation and descent and the mother's ability to push effectively, was pervasive in birth until the advent of Western obstetrics. Its replacement by the flat-on-the-back position common in Western-style hospitals demonstrates the extensive cultural restructuring that has been applied to birth in industrialized countries.

The social nature of birth and its importance for survival ensure that this biological and intensely personal process will carry a heavy cultural overlay. In 1908, Arnold van Gennep noted that cultures ritualize important life transitions — of which birth is a prime example. Anthropologist and childbirth educator Sheila Kitzinger has noted that birth practices point ‘as sharply as an arrowhead’ to the core values and beliefs of the culture, telling the observer a great deal about the way that culture views the world and women's place in it. Where women's status is high, a rich set of nurturant traditions tends to develop around birth; where it is low, the opposite may occur. For example, in the highly patriarchal Islamic society of Bangladesh, in which the status of women is low, childbirth (like menstruation) has traditionally been regarded as highly polluting. It was believed that women should give birth on dirty linens, attended only by female relatives. An indigenous midwifery tradition never developed, and rates of infant mortality and puerperal infections are high. In contrast, in the matrilineal societies of Polynesia, where the status of women is high, pregnant women are pampered and nurtured. Skilled midwives administer frequent full-body massages during pregnancy and have a rich repertoire of techniques for assisting women during labour and birth.

Brigitte Jordan's comparative study of birthing systems in Holland, Sweden, the US, and Mexico's Yucatan was the first to demonstrate this wide variation in the definition, the locus, the attendants, and the artifacts of childbirth; it sparked general interest in the anthropology of birth. Jordan's work on American birth was expanded by anthropologists Emily Martin and Robbie Davis-Floyd. They have suggested that American hospital birth, like much of American society, is organized around models of factory production and the technological control of natural processes. In many American hospitals, over 80% of women have their labours artificially speeded up or induced, are routinely hooked up to the electronic fetal monitor, often for long periods, have IVs inserted into their arms to provide the fluids that they are not allowed to drink, and lie flat with their feet in stirrups to give birth. While such technological interventions can sometimes be lifesaving, their routine overuse often generates problems. (The degree of overuse of birth technologies in the US is highlighted by the much lower rates of most such interventions in Great Britain, where a vocal, active, and influential consumer movement arguing for evidence-based care has had a significant impact on obstetrical policies.) Such routine procedures have been interpreted by Davis-Floyd as rituals that symbolically enact and display the core values of the American technocracy, which centre around the supervaluation of technology in many aspects of American life.

The prestige of Western ‘high technologies’ has induced many developing countries to stamp out viable indigenous midwifery systems and import the Western model even when it is ill-suited to the local situation. Western style hospitals built in the Third World may lack the most basic supplies but are often stocked with several expensive machines that few know how to use or repair. The medically trained personnel who staff these hospitals often have little understanding of or respect for local birth traditions, with the result that local women often avoid such hospitals whenever possible. From Northern India to the Yucatan, indigenous women echo each other's concerns: ‘They expose you, ’ ‘they shave you, ’ ‘they cut you, ’ ‘they leave you alone and ignore you, but won't let your family come in’. Ironically, none of the rules and procedures these women find so alarming are essential to good obstetric care; rather, they reflect the importation of the mechanistic Western model and its culturally insensitive imposition on indigenous groups.

In an effort to counteract this trend and build a bridge between technology and tradition, the World Health Organization and UNICEF have been promoting programs to ‘upgrade’ the skills of traditional midwives. Anthropological studies have shown, however, that because the medically trained personnel in these programmes tend to place a higher value on the Western techomedical approach, they generally fail to take advantage of the knowledge and skills developed by community midwives within the context of their own cultural traditions.

In 1978, Brigitte Jordan called for the ‘mutual accommodation’ of indigenous and Western birthing systems. In northern Brazil, an obstetrician, Dr Galba Araujo, demonstrated one form this ‘mutual accommodation’ might take: he oversaw the building of rural community clinics staffed by local midwives (who received culturally sensitive training that honoured their skills while imparting useful biomedical information), and linked them to one city hospital through a government funded ambulance system. (Lack of transportation to a hospital in emergencies is a significant cause of maternal death in the developing world.)

In the US, obstetricians solidified their control over birth during the first half of the twentieth century and nearly eliminated midwifery by the 1950s. Since then the demands of many women for natural childbirth, coupled with scientific research into the dangers of interventionist hospital birth and the benefits of planned, midwife attended births at home or in freestanding birth centres, have generated a midwifery renaissance. Indeed, in the four countries in which infant perinatal mortality statistics are the lowest in the world — Japan, Holland, Sweden, and Denmark — over 70% of births are attended by midwives who serve as the woman's primary caregiver.

Deep in the evolutionary past, our ancestors came to understand the benefits of women helping other women to give birth. Today, the most successful birthing systems combine midwifery care with solid scientific research on the physiology of birth. Contemporary midwives work in all settings, from hospital to home, and support women to avoid unnecessary interventions, to give birth in upright positions, to breastfeed, and to enjoy uninterrupted contact with their babies after birth. It has been repeatedly demonstrated that midwifery care results in fewer interventions, less iatrogenic damage to mothers and babies, improved outcomes (both psychological and physical), and lower costs. It is to be hoped that in short order the world will pass through the current phase of high-technology interventions in normal birth and come full spiral, uniting evolutionary understandings with contemporary science through midwives' skilled, nurturant, and woman-centered care.

— Robbie Davis-Floyd

Bibliography

• Davis-Floyd, R. E. (1992). Birth as an American rite of passage. University of California Press, Berkeley and London
• Davis-Floyd, R. E. and Sargent, C. (1997). Childbirth and authoritative knowledge: cross-cultural perspectives. University of California Press, Berkeley, California.
• Jordan, Brigitte (1993; orig. pub. 1978). Birth in four cultures: a cross-cultural investigation of childbirth in Yucatan, Holland, Sweden and the United States, (4th edn) Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, Ohio

See also labour; pregnancy.

noun

1. The act or process of bringing forth young: accouchement, birthing, childbearing, childbirth, delivery, labor, lying-in, parturition, travail. See start/end.
2. One's ancestors or their character or one's ancestral derivation: ancestry, blood, bloodline, descent, extraction, family, genealogy, line, lineage, origin, parentage, pedigree, seed, stock. See kin, precede/follow.
3. Noble rank or status by birth: blood, blue blood, nobility, noblesse. See kin, over/under.
4. The initial stage of a developmental process: beginning, commencement, dawn, genesis, inception, nascence, nascency, onset, opening, origin, outset, spring, start. See start/end.

verb

To give birth to: bear, bring forth, deliver, have. Idioms: be broughtabedto bedof. See rich/poor.

n

Definition: beginning
Antonyms: conclusion, death, end, ending, finish

"Be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1:28) is regarded as the first commandment in the Bible. However, man's first recorded act of disobedience, eating from the Tree of Knowledge, led to a curse being imposed on Eve and her female descendants that they would suffer the pain of childbirth (Gen. 1:16). In biblical times, a woman gave birth in a kneeling position (I Sam. 4:19) or while sitting on a special birthstool (Ex. 16). Midwives were highly esteemed (Ex. 1:17-21). Ezekiel offers an image of a child who is rejected at birth (a prevalent heathen custom), his description vividly indicating the customary procedure: "When you were born your navel cord was not cut, and you were not bathed in water to soothe you; you were not rubbed with salt, nor were you swaddled" (Ezek. 16:4-5; the use of salt may have been a protection against the Evil Eye). A woman with many children was regarded as blessed, but Barrenness was a curse.

The Pentateuch (Lev. 12) imposes certain laws of ritual Purity and Impurity on the new mother. After giving birth to a male child, she was considered to be ritually impure for seven days. Thereafter, for the next 33 days, she might not enter the precincts of the Temple or handle sacred objects. For the mother of a newborn girl, the number of days was 14 and 66, respectively. In Temple times, when the mother's prescribed "days of purification" had ended, she had to bring a burnt-offering and a sin-offering. Nowadays, however, a woman who has just given birth observes the usual laws of Niddah, including immersion in a ritual bath once she is "clean."

Should a woman in childbirth be in mortal danger, Jewish law decrees that her life takes precedence over that of the unborn infant's and, if necessary, it is sacrificed to save the mother's life. Once most of the child's body has emerged from the birth canal, however, it is considered to be alive, and the mother's life no longer takes precedence (Ohol. 7:6). The modern trend to have the father present at childbirth has been discussed in halakhic literature, which forbids the practice.

In accordance with the general concept of Pikku'Aḥ Nefesh ("danger to life"), the violation of Sabbath laws is not only permitted but demanded by the rabbis in order to save an unborn child. All necessary measures may therefore be taken on the Sabbath in connection with childbirth (Shab. 18:3), as laid down subsequently by Maimonides and the Shulḥan Arukh. For the first three days after the child's birth, the mother has the status of a person who is in mortal danger; the Sabbath may be violated on her behalf, even if she declares such an action unnecessary, provided that a doctor, a nurse, or even someone moderately knowledgeable in medicine deems the action necessary. During the next four days, the woman is still considered to be in grave danger, but her assurance that certain actions need not be taken in violation of the Sabbath has precedence over the opinion of experts. Over the following 23 days, the new mother is considered to be ill, but not sick enough to be in mortal danger, and only rabbinic (not biblical) decrees may be violated on her behalf on the Sabbath. A non-Jew, however, may perform any action thought necessary for the new mother, including one forbidden by Torah law. Even at this last stage, should serious complications arise, the woman is again considered to be in mortal danger and she must be treated accordingly.

The rabbis followed the Greek scientists in believing that a seven-month-old fetus would survive, and that an eight-month-old would not. The Mishnah (Bekh. 8:2) refers to Caesarean births, declaring that any First-Born child delivered in this way does not have the rights or duties of the first-born (nor does any child born subsequently to that mother).

Much folklore and superstition---often of non-Jewish origin---accompanied Jewish birth customs. Amulets and talismans were placed above the bed of an expectant mother. After the birth, family and friends would gather nightly to say prayers designed to ward off evil spirits, especially Lilith, the female demon who supposedly tries to kill all newborn children.

Among German Jews, it was often the custom for parents of a newborn son to cut a strip from the swaddling cloth in which the infant was wrapped in at the time of his Circumcision. It was then embroidred with the name of the child and with good wishes for his future. This cloth, known as a wimple, was kept until the boy's Bar Mitzvah. He would use it then for tying the Scroll of the Law and then donate it to the synagogue.

From the Middle Ages onward, Ashkenazi mothers made it a practice to visit the synagogue after their recovery from childbirth and to recite the Gomel blessing or other prayers on that occasion. It is also customary for a Mi She-Berakh to be recited for the welfare of mother and child.

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There are a number of indications that in biblical times, a woman gave birth either in a kneeling position (I Sam 4:19) or while sitting on a special birthstool (Ex 1:16). The baby was then placed on the knees of the person, either male or female, who claimed the newborn child as its own. Rachel told Jacob "Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her and she will bear a child upon my knees" (Gen 30:3). Of the children of Machir, Joseph's grandson, we are told that they were born on Joseph's knees (Gen 50:23). Midwives were employed to assist at birth. Because of their special skill, they were held in high esteem (Ex 1:17-21).

The thrusting about of the twins, Jacob and Esau in the womb of Rebekah – a normal experience during the latter months of pregnancy – is interpreted as an omen of the future rivalry and struggle between the two brothers (Gen 25:22-23). When tamar was giving birth to twin sons, Perez and Zerah, it is related that the latter put out his hand first but was then thrust aside by Perez, who emerged before him (Gen 38:28-30).

In antiquity, though not in the Bible, it was a prevalent, accepted practice to abandon unwanted children at birth, particularly female infants. Ezekiel referred to such practice when he compared the plight of Jerusalem to that of a newborn, abandoned child. From his description, we learn the normal procedure in caring for an infant at birth. "On the day you were born, your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor swathed in swaddling clothes" (Ezek 16:4). (The salt may have been intended, as in other instances, as a protection against the evil eye). Children were given their names at birth (Gen 29:32, 35; 30:6ff).

The pangs of childbirth are attributed to Eve, the prototype of all women. In the case of Eve, it is divine punishment for succumbing to the temptation by the serpent and eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children" (Gen 3:16). In the time to come, according to Isaiah 66:7 childbearing, like the restoration to Zion of her children, will be painless: "Before she travailed, she gave birth, before her pain came she delivered a male child". An instance of death in childbirth appears in the story of the death of Rachel (gen 35:18; I Sam 4:19-20). After childbirth, a woman became impure for a period of time, whose length depended on whether the newborn child was a male or a female. (See purity, impurity).

A woman who bears numerous children is deemed fortunate and happy (Gen 29:32-34; 30:20); whereas the barren woman is described as unfortunate and downcast (Gen 30:1; I Sam 1:11). "He grants the barren wife a home, like a joyful mother of children" (Ps 113:9). Child bearing by a hitherto barren woman is deemed a special act of divine favor. A number of such episodes are recounted (cf the births of Isaac, Gen 21:1-7; Samson, Judg chap. 11; Samuel, I Sam 1:1-2:10), the mother in each case being informed in advance, either by an angel or a prophet, that she is destined to bear a child. The prophet Elisha brought the glad tidings to the Shunammite woman (II Kgs 4:16). The prophet Isaiah foretells that his wife will bear a son, an event the prophet interprets as an omen of future events (Is 8:1-3).

In poetic language, birth pangs served as a metaphor for the painful evils that will befall Israel. "The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him" (Hos 13:13). "�Pangs have seized you like a woman in labor. Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion" (Mic 4:9-10). "�They shall be frightened; pangs and throes shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain like a woman in travail" (Is 13:8 and frequently thereafter).

The travail of childbirth served the prophet Isaiah (21:3) as a metaphor for the profound inner agitation that accompanies his receipt of a divine communication. Isaiah likewise described the forthcoming manifestation of God's power as that of a woman in labor. "I have been still and restrained myself, but now I will cry like a woman in labor, I will pant and gasp at once" (42:14). The future joy of Zion on the return of her exiled children is compared to that of a woman who gives birth after a long period of barrenness (54:1).

According to the NT, spiritually one may be born a second time, of the water and the Spirit, i.e. a new birth (John 3:3-7). See virgin birth.

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The birth of many Celtic figures occurred under extraordinary circumstances, such as Taliesin, who was conceived when Ceridwen in the form of a hen unsuspectingly ate a grain of wheat. The story of Cormac's birth is told in Geineamhain Chormaic and the birth of Mongán is told in Imram Brain [The Voyage of Bran]. Stories of other unusual births, such as those of Conchobar and Cúchulainn, are summarized in their entries.

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Birth is the prototype for all discontinuities in the relation between a mind and its objects. Otto Rank's The Myth of the Birth of the Hero (1909) introduced this theme into psychoanalytic literature.

In the same year Freud took an interest in dreams of birth in an addendum to The Interpretation of Dreams (1900a). Birth, as a passage from intra-uterine life to extra-uterine life became for him "the first experience of anxiety, and thus the source and prototype of the affect of anxiety" (SE, 5: 525, note 2). He returns to this theme in Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (1916-17a [1915-17]), in which he speaks of the "separation"(SE, 15: 397) of birth.

This is the theme that Wilfred Bion developed in Caesura (1975) when he made birth the paradigm for all psychic discontinuity, which means that experiences lived through before the caesura must be capable of being retranscribed in a psychically assimilable form after the caesura. Taking a more genetic point of view, other authors have applied the term "psychic birth" to the moment when children become conscious of their individuation and the separation between them and their libidinal objects (Mahler, Margaret, 1975; Tustin, Frances, 1981).

Bibliography

Bion, Wifred R. (1975). The grid and Caesura. Rio de Janeiro: Imago.

Freud, Sigmund. (1900a). The interpretation of dreams. Part I. SE, 4, 1-338.

——. (1900a). The interpretation of dreams. Part II. SE, 5: 339-625.

——. (1916-17a [1915-17]). Introductory lectures on psycho-analysis. Parts I and II. SE, Part I, 15; Part II, 16.

Mahler, Margaret, Pine, Fred, and Bergman, Anni. (1975). The psychological birth of the human infant. New York: Basic Books.

Tustin, Frances. (1981). Autistic states in children. London: Routledge.

—DIDIER HOUZEL

A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce

n.

The first and direst of all disasters. As to the nature of it there appears to be no uniformity. Castor and Pollux were born from the egg. Pallas came out of a skull. Galatea was once a block of stone. Peresilis, who wrote in the tenth century, avers that he grew up out of the ground where a priest had spilled holy water. It is known that Arimaxus was derived from a hole in the earth, made by a stroke of lightning. Leucomedon was the son of a cavern in Mount Aetna, and I have myself seen a man come out of a wine cellar.

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IN BRIEF: The event of being born. The beginning of something.

The Internet has given birth to a new information age.

Tutor's tip: She gave "birth" (brought a baby into life) in the "berth" (place to sleep).

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

Dreams of oneself or others giving birth most obviously relate to actual physical birth. Pregnant women and the husbands of pregnant women often dream about strange or difficult births (e.g., giving birth to puppies). This merely reflects anxiety about the birth process and should not be taken as indicating a difficult birth or a deformed child. Birth can also symbolize the beginning of a new idea or project. It also often represents the beginning of a new stage of life, in which one feels "reborn" in some sense.

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A coming into being; the act or process of being born. See also parturition.

• b. canal — the canal through which the fetus passes in birth; comprising the uterus, cervix, vagina and vulva.
• b. cohort — see cohort.
• b. control — a term rarely used in dealing with animals. Instead see population control, contraception.
• b. defects — see congenital defects.
• b. difficulties — dystocia.
• b. injury — occurs to the fetus during birth. Includes rib fracture and meningeal hemorrhage.
• b. interval — the interval between succeeding parturitions. See also calving interval.
• multiple b. — the birth of two or more offspring produced in the same gestation period.
• b. order — the chronological order of births in a multiple birth. May have significance in causing stillbirths if the intervals between births are prolonged because of inertia.
• premature b. — expulsion of the fetus from the uterus before termination of the normal gestation period, but after independent existence has become a possibility. In humans prematurity is defined as a pregnancy of less than 37 weeks in a pregnancy normally lasting 40 weeks.
• b. process — comprises maturation of the fetus, relaxation of the bony pelvis and associated ligaments, softening and relaxation of the cervix, vagina, vulva and perineum, correct disposition of the fetus, contractions of the uterine myometrium and finally the only component under voluntary control, contraction of the abdominal muscles.
• b. rate — the number of births during one year for the total population (crude birth rate), for the female population (refined birth rate), or for the female population of reproductive age (true birth rate). Not a term much used with reference to animals. See calving, lambing rate.
• b. size — stature, including height at withers, crown to tail head length at birth.
• b. weight — the weight at birth. A significant determinant of survival in any species and of the occurrence of dystocia. See also prolonged gestation.

For a list of words related to birth, see:

• Pregnancy and Birth - birth: act or process of bringing forth child from mother’s womb; parturition

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See words rhyming with "birth."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Birth.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - fødsel
v. tr. - føde

idioms:

• birth control    fødselsbegrænsning, fødselskontrol
• birth rate    nativitet, fødselshyppighed, fødselsfrekvens
• give birth to    føde, sætte i verden

Nederlands (Dutch)
geboorte, bevalling, afkomst, ontstaan, opkomst

Français (French)
n. - naissance, accouchement, couches, mise bas, extraction, (fig) naissance, éclosion, commencement, lancement, apparition (d'un phénomène)
v. tr. - naître, accoucher, mettre bas

idioms:

• birth control    contrôle des naissances
• birth rate    taux des naissances
• give birth to    donner naissance à

Deutsch (German)
n. - Geburt, Herkunft, Entstehung
v. - gebären, Geburtshilfe leisten, enstehen lassen

idioms:

• birth control    Geburtenkontrolle
• birth rate    Geburtenrate
• give birth to    gebären

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - γέννηση, γέννα, τοκετός, καταγωγή

idioms:

• birth control    έλεγχος γεννήσεων
• birth rate    βαθμός γεννητικότητας, δείκτης γεννήσεων
• give birth to    γεννώ, φέρνω στον κόσμο, (μτφ.) δημιουργώ

Italiano (Italian)
nascita

idioms:

• birth control    contraccettivo, controllo delle nascite
• birth rate    tasso di natalità
• breech birth    parto podalico
• date of birth    data di nascita
• give birth    partorire
• give birth to    dare alla luce

Português (Portuguese)
n. - nascimento (m), descendência (f)

idioms:

• birth control    controle (m) de natalidade
• birth rate    taxa (f) de natalidade
• breech birth    parto (m) onde as nádegas e pés do feto aparecem primeiro
• date of birth    data (f) de nascimento
• give birth to    dar à luz

Русский (Russian)
роды, рождение, зарождение

idioms:

• birth control    контроль рождаемости
• birth rate    уровень рождаемости
• breech birth    ягодичное предлежание плода
• date of birth    дата рождения
• give birth to    родить кого-либо

Español (Spanish)
n. - nacimiento, linaje, origen
v. tr. - acto o tiempo de nacer

idioms:

• birth control    control de la natalidad
• birth rate    índice de natalidad
• give birth to    dar a luz, dar nacimiento a, dar origen a

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - födelse, ursprung, härkomst

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
出生, 诞生, 血统, 出身, 家世, 分娩, 起源, 生..., 产生, 使诞生

idioms:

• birth control    生育控制, 避孕, 节育
• birth rate    出生率
• give birth to    生, 使...发生

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 出生, 誕生, 血統, 出身, 家世, 分娩, 起源
v. tr. - 生..., 產生, 使誕生

idioms:

• birth control    生育控制, 避孕, 節育
• birth rate    出生率
• give birth to    生, 使...發生

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 탄생, 태생, 명문
v. tr. - 탄생하다

idioms:

• give birth to    낳다, ~의 원인이 되다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 出生, 誕生, 出産, 出現, 生まれ, よい家柄, 血統, 発生
v. - 起こす

idioms:

• birth control    産児制限
• birth rate    出産率, 出生率

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ولادة, انجاب, ميلاد‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮לידה, שעת הלידה, ילודה, מוצא, מקור, ייחוס‬
v. tr. - ‮ילדה, יילד‬

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