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stepmother . In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
stepmother , but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
stepmother in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
stepmother you have here. The definition of the word
stepmother will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
stepmother , as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English stepmoder , from Old English stēopmōdor , from Proto-Germanic *steupamōdēr ( “ stepmother ” ) , corresponding to step- + mother .
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Stäifmuur ( “ stepmother ” ) , Dutch stiefmoeder ( “ stepmother ” ) , German Low German Steevmoder ( “ stepmother ” ) , German Stiefmutter ( “ stepmother ” ) , Danish stedmor ( “ stepmother ” ) , Swedish styvmor ( “ stepmother ” ) , Icelandic stjúpmóðir ( “ stepmother ” ) . Compare also West Frisian styfmem ( “ stepmother ” ) .
Pronunciation
( UK ) IPA (key ) : /ˈstɛpmʌðə/
Audio (Southern England) (file )
Hyphenation: step‧moth‧er
Noun
stepmother (plural stepmothers )
The wife of one's biological father , other than one's biological mother .
Synonyms: ( euphemistic ) bonus mother , ( same-sex and polygamous families ) co-mother
Hypernym: stepparent
Coordinate term: stepfather
( botany , rare ) A viola , especially Viola tricolor , heartsease .
1974 , Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal, The Summer Book , Sort Of Books, published 2003 , page 115 :The second came up about ten days later in the lee of the channel marker, and it was called stepmother , or love-in-idelness.
Usage notes
In Western heterosexual couples, this is typically after the divorce or death of the birth mother ; in polygamous marriages and lesbian couples, the term may be used for co-mother or nonbirth mother.
Synonyms
Dialectal forms:
Derived terms
Translations
wife of one's biological father, not one's biological mother
Albanian: njerkë (sq) f
Arabic: زَوْجَةُ الْأَب f ( zawjatu l-ʔab ) , رَابَّة f ( rābba )
Armenian: խորթ մայր ( xortʻ mayr ) , մորու (hy) ( moru )
Aromanian: nuearcã f , nearcã f
Asturian: madrasta (ast) f , madrastra (ast) f
Azerbaijani: ögey ana
Basque: amaorde (eu)
Belarusian: ма́чаха f ( máčaxa )
Bulgarian: ма́щеха (bg) f ( mášteha )
Burmese: မိထွေး (my) ( mi.htwe: )
Catalan: madrastra (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 繼母 / 继母 (zh) ( jìmǔ ) , 後母 / 后母 (zh) ( hòumǔ )
Czech: macecha (cs) f , nevlastní matka , macocha (cs) f
Dalmatian: matraja f
Danish: stedmor (da) , papmor c , bonusmor c , plasticmor c
Dutch: stiefmoeder (nl) f
Esperanto: vicpatrino , ( sometimes ) duonpatrino
Estonian: kasuema
Faroese: stjúkmóðir f
Finnish: äitipuoli (fi)
French: belle-mère (fr) f , ( pejorative ) marâtre (fr)
Friulian: madrigne f , madrigne f
Galician: madrasta (gl) f
Georgian: დედინაცვალი ( dedinacvali )
German: Stiefmutter (de) f , ( gender-neutral ) Stiefelternteil (de) m or n
Greek: μητριά (el) f ( mitriá ) , θετή μητέρα f ( thetí mitéra )
Aeolic: ματροία f ( matroía )
Ancient: μητρυιά f ( mētruiá )
Hebrew: אם חורגת f ( em khóreget )
Hindi: सौतेली माँ f ( sautelī mā̃ )
Hungarian: mostohaanya (hu)
Icelandic: stjúpmóðir f , stjúpa f , stjúpmamma f
Indonesian: ibu tiri (id)
Ingrian: emintimä
Irish: leasmháthair f
Italian: matrigna (it) f
Japanese: 継母 (ja) ( けいぼ, keibo )
Kashmiri: وورٕ موج ( vōrụ mōj ) , وورٕ مٲج ( vōrụ mạ̄j )
Kazakh: өгей ана ( ögei ana ) , өгей шеше ( ögei şeşe )
Korean: 계모(繼母) ( gyemo ) , 새어머니 ( saeeomeoni ) , 의붓어머니 ( uibuseomeoni ) , 새엄마 ( saeeomma )
Kyrgyz: өгөй эне ( ögöy ene )
Latin: noverca f , matrastra f , vitrica , victrica
Latvian: pamāte (lv) f
Lithuanian: pamotė f
Macedonian: маќеа f ( maḱea ) , помајка f ( pomajka )
Maori: whaea whakaangi , whaea kē
Middle English: stepmoder , stepdame
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: хойд эх ( xojd ex )
Navajo: hamá ájíłʼíní , hamá jíłʼíní
Northern Mansi: (please verify ) о̄ниг ( ōnig )
Norwegian:
Bokmål: stemor m or f
Nynorsk: stemor f
Occitan: mairastra
Old English: stēopmōdor f
Persian: نامادری (fa) ( nâmâdari ) , مادندر ( mâdandar )
Plautdietsch: Steefmutta f
Polish: macocha (pl) f
Portuguese: madrasta (pt) f
Romanian: mașteră (ro) f , mamă vitregă f
Russian: ма́чеха (ru) f ( máčexa ) , приёмная мать f ( prijómnaja matʹ )
Rwanda-Rundi:
Kinyarwanda: mukaso
Scottish Gaelic: muime f , leas-mhàthair f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ма̏ћеха f
Roman: mȁćeha f
Sicilian: matrastra (scn)
Slovak: macocha (sk) f
Slovene: mačeha (sl) f
Southern Altai: ӧӧй эне ( ööy ene )
Spanish: madrastra (es) f
Swahili: mama wa kambo
Swedish: styvmor (sv) c , fostermor (sv) c , ( colloquial ) plastmamma c , bonusmamma , styvmamma (sv)
Tagalog: inang-panguman , madrasta
Tajik: модарандар ( modarandar ) , моиндар ( moyindar )
Telugu: సవతి తల్లి (te) ( savati talli ) , మారుటి తల్లి ( māruṭi talli )
Turkish: üvey anne (tr)
Ukrainian: ма́чуха f ( máčuxa )
Uzbek: oʻgay ona
Vietnamese: mẹ ghẻ (vi) , mẹ kế (vi)
Volapük: jilupal , lumot (vo)
Yiddish: שטיפֿמאַמע f ( shtifmame )
See also