Obstetrical

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to the medical field that deals with childbirth and the care of women during pregnancy and after delivery
2. Pertaining to the branch of medicine focusing on pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care for mothers
3. Associated with the specialty of medicine dedicated to managing pregnancy, labor, and the immediate postnatal period

Etymology: Obstetric comes from the Latin "obstetrix," meaning "midwife," a word built from "obstare," to stand before or stand by. The Latin "obstetrix" is the feminine form of an agent noun linked to "obstare," so a midwife was, in a sense, the woman who stood by the mother during labor. Medieval Latin then formed the adjective "obstetricus," meaning "belonging to a midwife," and that is the direct ancestor of the English word. The English form arrived as a learned borrowing, so its meaning stayed close to the midwife's role for a long time. Over the centuries the field moved from the hands of midwives toward physicians, and the adjective followed that shift, coming to describe the medical specialty as a whole rather than the midwife's craft. The spelling "obstetrical" is simply an alternate form of "obstetric," with the extra syllable "-al" added in the same way many English adjectives take it. Both forms mean the same thing and are used interchangeably.

Synonyms: maternity, gynecological