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A mother is the natural or social female parent of an offspring. In the case of a mammal such as a human, the mother gestates her child, which is called first an embryo, and then a fetus. This gestation occurs in the mother's uterus from conception until the fetus is sufficiently developed to be born. The mother then goes into labor and gives birth. Once the child is born, the mother produces milk, a process called lactation, to feed the child.

Mothers typically fulfill the primary role in the raising of children. The title mother is often given to a woman other than biological parent, if it is she who fulfills this role. This is most commonly either an adoptive mother or a stepmother (the biologically unrelated wife of a child's father). Currently, with advances in reproductive technologies, the function of biological motherhood can be split between the genetic mother (who provides the ovum) and the gestational mother (who carries the pregnancy), and in theory neither might be the social mother (the one who brings up the child).

Synonyms and translations

Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are:

• mum or mummy, is used in the UK & parts of Canada (especially Eastern Canada), Australia, and New Zealand;
• mom or mommy, in most of North America (especially the U.S.). Mommy is considered baby talk. Most adults in these regions switch to the term mom as they approach the teen years. This term is also used in the British West Midlands.
• mam or mammy, North Wales, the South Wales valleys, Ireland, North and the East Midlands of England;
• mama and ma, in parts of the middle east, Latin America, other Spanish-speaking cultures and The Netherlands. Mama is often used in rural areas of the midwest and south eastern regions of the US. Ma is a common term in various parts of the US including the north east.

In many other languages, similar pronunciations apply; maman in French and Farsi(Persian),maadar in Farsi(Persian), or mamma in Italian, or mãe in Portuguese. Mama, borrowed from the English, is in common use in Japan. In Hebrew the word is eema, and in many south Asian cultures and the Middle East the mother is known as amma or oma or ammi or "ummi", or variations thereof. Many times these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child's life. The word originates from the Sanskrit mothru or motharaha and has taken various forms all over the world.

Geographical variations

Mother's Day is a day honoring mothers, celebrated on various days in many places around the world. Mothers often receive gifts on this day.

The experience of motherhood varies greatly depending upon location. The organization Save the Children has ranked the countries of the world, and found that Scandinavian countries are the best places to be a mother, whereas countries in sub-Saharan Africa are the worst. A mother in the bottom 10 countries is over 750 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth, compared to a mother in the top 10 countries, and a mother in the bottom 10 countries is 28 times more likely to see her child die before reaching his or her first birthday. Your mom is a common americanized insult.

Motherhood and Marital Status

Many mothers are married to the biological father of their children, but some are single, or are married to other partners. The reasons people marry vary widely, but may include a desire for legal, social, and economic stability. In many societies, marriage is viewed as an optimal arrangement for creating a family unit, procreating, and nurturing children. Marriage may also be a means to legitimize or channel sexual relations, as well as to publicly declare love.

As of the year 2000 in the United States, about 69% of children aged 4-35 months had married mothers. 22% of children in that age group had mothers who had never been married, and about 9% of children in that age group had mothers who had been divorced or separated.

Related terms and expressions

• The phrase "The mother of all ... " is used to mean "the greatest" or the "most spectacular".
• Matricide is the murder of one's own mother.
• Matriphagy occurs when offspring feed on their own mother, and is seen in some spiders.

Legendary & mythological mothers

• Bithiah
• Gaia (mythology)
• Hagar (mother of Ishmael)
• Isis
• Juno (mythology)
• Mary (mother of Jesus)
• Euripides' Medea
• Queen Maya
• Venus (mythology)

Famous mothers

• Agrippina the Younger
• Cleopatra VII
• Diana, Princess of Wales
• Eleanor of Aquitaine
• Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
• Indira Gandhi
• Jean Kerr
• Joan Crawford
• Josephine Baker
• Marie Curie
• Mary Wollstonecraft
• Mia Farrow
• Mitochondrial Eve (matrilineal most recent common ancestor for all living humans)
• Naomi Judd
• Nefertiti
• Olympias
• Queen Victoria
• Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
• Shirley Jackson
• Tiye

See also

• Feminism
• Maternal bond
• Matriarch
• Matrilocality
• Mothers rights
• Nuclear family
• Parenting
• Social stereotype
• Wife
• Woman

Notes

1. American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language ("1. A woman who conceives, gives birth to, or raises and nurtures a child. 2. A female parent of an animal").
2. Dictionaries often define the word "child" to include a prenatal element, e.g.:
   Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary ("1. an unborn or recently born person");
   American Heritage Dictionary ("b. an unborn infant; a fetus").
3. Dictionaries and other reference books often use the word "mother" prenatally, e.g.:
   MedicineNet.com (defining placenta as a "temporary organ joining the mother and fetus");
   American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary (placenta permits "metabolic interchage between fetus and mother", and also defining quickening as "signs of fetal life felt by the mother");
   Encyclopedia Britannica Concise ("nutrients and oxygen in the mother's blood pass across the placenta to the fetus");
   On-Line Medical Dictionary, Department of Medical Oncology, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne ("movement of foetus in the womb perceived by the mother");
   Medilexicon (defining quickening as "signs of life felt by the mother as a result of fetal movements");
   Wordnet, Princeton University ("mother first feels the movements of the fetus");
   Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary ("motion of a fetus in the uterus felt by the mother").
4. Save the Children, State of the World's Mothers Report 2006.
5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Child and Adolescent Health: Selected U.S. National Research Findings.

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• Human development
• Women