Other forms: births
Birth is the moment a baby comes into the world. Give birth, a home birth, date of birth.
It is the event and, by extension, the beginning of anything: the birth of an idea, the birth of a nation. Date of birth is a standard identifier on every form. Birth rate is measured per thousand people per year and has fallen in most of the world. Note give birth to; birthright; and that the word came from Old Norse and replaced an English one.
1nounbirthThe moment a baby comes into the world.
“She was there at the birth of her first grandchild.”
2nounbeginningThe beginning of anything.
“The 1960s saw the birth of the space age.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
birth is a beginning.
Old Norse burdr replaced the Old English gebyrd, both from the same root as bear. The Norse form won, which happened often in the north of England.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰer-
Middle English
birthe
English, today
birth
Built from
From Middle English birthe. From Middle English birthe (1250), from earlier burthe, burde, from Old Norse burðr, byrd (gmq-osw byrth, Swedish börd), replacing Old English ġebyrd (rare variant byrþ), equivalent to bear + -th (thus a berth). The Old Norse is from Proto-Germanic burdiz (compare Old Frisian berde, berd); Old English ġebyrd is from prefixed gaburþiz (compare Dutch geboorte, German Geburt), from Proto-Indo-European bʰértis (compare Latin fors (“luck”), Old Irish brith), from bʰer- (“to carry, bear”). More at bear.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA