Look up mother in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

For other uses of "mother" see Mother (disambiguation)

Faces of mother and child; detail of sculpture at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Nestlings and mother Mourning Dove

A mother is the biological or social female parent of a child or offspring, while the male parent is the father. The maternal bond describes the feelings the mother has for her (or another's) child. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary logo Wiktionary is a Wikimedia Foundation project intended to be a free wiki dictionary (including thesaurus and lexicon) in almost every language. ... The primary use of the word mother is to refer to a biological or social female parent, for which see Mother. ... Image File history File links Mother,Child, detail of a relief sculpture,Soldier Field,Chicago File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Mother,Child, detail of a relief sculpture,Soldier Field,Chicago File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Soldier Field is located on famous Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, and is currently home to the NFLs Chicago Bears and Major League Soccers Chicago Fire. ... Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Official website: http://egov. ... Smaller picture of nestling Mourning Doves and their mother in Wisconsin. ... Smaller picture of nestling Mourning Doves and their mother in Wisconsin. ... Binomial name Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) The Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) is a member of the bird family Columbidae, which includes doves and pigeons. ... The mirror of the Roman Goddess Venus is often used to represent the female sex. ... Parenting comprises all the tasks involved in raising a child to an independent adult. ... A female child A child (plural: children) is a young human, or someone who has not yet reached puberty (someone who is prepubescent). ... In biology, offspring are the product of reproduction, a new organism produced by one or more parents. ... The shield and spear of the Roman God Mars are often used to represent the male sex In heterogamous species, male is the sex of an organism, or of a part of an organism, which typically produces smaller, mobile gametes (spermatozoa) that are able to fertilise female gametes (ova). ... A father is traditionally the male parent of a child. ... The maternal bond is typically the relationship between a mother and her child. ...

In the case of a mammal such as a human, the mother gestates her child (called first an embryo, then a fetus) in the womb from conception until the fetus is sufficiently well-developed to be born. The mother then goes into labour and gives birth. Once the child is born, the mother's breasts produce milk to feed the child. Orders Subclass Multituberculata (extinct) Plagiaulacida Cimolodonta Subclass Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Subclass Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Eutheria (includes extinct ancestors)/Placentalia (excludes extinct ancestors) Afrosoricida Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia (extinct) Notoungulata (extinct) Perissodactyla Pholidota Plesiadapiformes... Trinomial name Homo sapiens sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Humans, or human beings, are biologically classified as bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species Homo sapiens (Latin for wise man or thinking man) under the family Hominidae (the great apes). ... Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. ... Embryos (and one tadpole) of the wrinkled frog (Rana rugosa). ... Fetus at eight weeks Foetus redirects here. ... Female internal reproductive anatomy The uterus or womb is the major female reproductive organ of most mammals, including humans. ... This article is about biological sexes — male, female, etc. ... Childbirth (also called labo(u)r, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a human pregnancy with the emergence of a newborn infant from its mothers uterus. ... Look up breasts, WikiSaurus:breasts in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A glass of cow milk Milk most often means the nutrient liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals. ...

In non-sexual organisms, "mother" can sometimes be used to mean "parent"; in the case of single-celled organisms that reproduce by fission, the mother is a cell that divides to produce "daughters".

Mothers typically have a very important role in raising children, and the title mother can be given to a woman other than a biological parent who fills this role. This is most commonly either an adoptive parent or a stepmother (the wife of a child's father). The term can also refer to a person with stereotypical traits of a mother. Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. ... A stepfamily is the family one acquires when a parent marries someone new. ... A father is traditionally the male parent of a child. ...

Mothers are celebrated yearly, on Mother's Day, in many countries around the world. In many branches of Christianity, the Virgin Mary is also celebrated as the "Mother of God". Originally conceived by Julia Ward Howe after the American Civil War as a day honoring (in her opinion) the inherent pacifism of mothers, Mothers Day has become diluted and is now seen only as a day for celebrating motherhood and thanking mothers. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion centered on the New Testament accounts of the life, teachings, and actions of Jesus of Nazareth, known by Christians as Jesus Christ. ... Blessed Virgin Mary A traditional Catholic picture sometimes displayed in homes. ...

"Mum"/"mummy" (British English), "Mom"/"mommy" (American English), "maman" in French, "mama" and "ma" (from italian Mamma) are some familiar or colloquial words for a mother. In many south Asian cultures, the mother is known as "Amma" or "Oma" or "Ammi" (with variations of "Ammi-ji" or "Ammi-jan"). Many times these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child's life. In some societies, single motherhood, the state of an unmarried mother, has been treated as a serious social issue. A single parent is a parent with one or more children, who is neither married, nor living together with his or her partners. ...

In Romania, mothers are placed below children in the average domestic social heirarchy.

Bibliography

• Mary Jacobus, First things : the maternal imaginary in literature, art, and psychoanalysis, New York [u.a.] : Routlege, 1995
• Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution, Virago Press 1995

Adrienne Rich (born May 16, 1929 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American feminist, poet, teacher, and writer. ...

See also

• Surrogate mother

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Category:Childbirth