Accouchement

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əˈkuːʃmənt/

Definitions

1. The process through which a mother delivers her baby is referred to as childbirth, involving the physical act of labor and the arrival of a newborn into the world
2. The term describes the medical process during which a woman gives birth, encompassing the stages of labor, delivery, and the emergence of the newborn into existence
3. The natural event of a woman giving birth to a baby, including labor and delivery stages

Etymology: The French word "accoucher" once meant something quite physical: "to lay down" or "put to bed." Its Old French ancestor "acouchier" combined Latin "ad-" with "collocare," "to lay, put, place," the same root that gives English "collate," which literally means to lay things side by side. A woman giving birth was, in this older sense, being put to bed, and the modern French verb narrowed to the business of delivering a child. English borrowed the noun "accouchement" directly from French, keeping its foreign spelling and sound, and it has remained a deliberately formal, somewhat clinical term for childbirth. Its origin in lying down and being placed is easy to miss, since nothing in the English word suggests a bed or a bedroom.