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maternal

Pronunciation: /məˈtɜːnəl/

The English word “maternal” has 5 meanings listed here.

adjective

  1. Of or pertaining to a mother; having the characteristics of a mother; motherly.
  2. Related through the mother, or her side of the family.
  3. Derived from the mother as opposed to the foetus during pregnancy.

noun

  1. A mother.
  2. A person related through the mother, or her side of the family; a maternal relative.

Etymology

PIE word *méh₂tēr The adjective is derived from Late Middle English maternal, maternall, from Middle French maternel (“maternal”) (modern French maternel (“maternal; native”)), or from its etymon Late Latin māternālis (“maternal”), from Latin māternus (“maternal; related to the mother or her side of the family”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns). Māternus is derived…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.