Chyldberynge

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The process of carrying a pregnancy to term and giving birth to a child
2. The bearing and delivering of offspring, especially across the course of a woman's life
3. Pregnancy and the act of bringing a baby into the world

Etymology: Middle English "childberinge" (also "childberyng") is a compound of "child" and "bering," the gerund of "beren," to bear, give birth to. The sense was literal and physical from the start: it named the act of bearing or delivering a child, which is why it meant "act of birth" rather than anything about a child being carried. Its history is short. The word is recorded in Middle English and fell out of use in the early modern period, when it was replaced by "childbirth," a compound that took over the same meaning. The older "-bering" form is a clear window into how English built words from verb and noun: the verb "beren" supplied the action, and "child" named its object.