Maters

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A plural form referring to female parents or guardians who nurture and support their offspring
2. Designating a group of women who have a significant influence in someone’s life, particularly in a parental or mentoring role
3. Indicative of multiple maternal figures or instances of motherhood, emphasizing care and guidance in one's upbringing

Etymology: "Maters" is simply the plural of "mater", so it inherits the history of that word. "Mater" comes from Latin "māter", meaning "mother", and reached English partly through Late Middle English "matere". It is a doublet of "mata" and "mother", meaning that English received the same Indo-European root through several separate routes and ended up with more than one form. The Latin word also gave English "matrix", which shows the shared core in a more technical setting. Note that the plural form "maters" is the one that carries the everyday sense of female parents, and it is the plural of a noun that was already used for the mother figure. The sense of the word is therefore inherited directly from the Latin for mother, rather than being a later extension.

Synonyms: mothers, parents

Antonyms: children