obstetrics

C2+ Topic:Health & Medicine

US /əbˈstɛtrɪks/ UK /əbˈstɛtrɪks/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the branch of medicine concerned with childbirth and pregnancy care

After residency she specialized in obstetrics and delivered hundreds of babies.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the branch of medicine... midwiferytocology

Word family

Related forms obstetricobstetrician

Etymology

From Latin obstetrix ('midwife'), literally 'one who stands before' (the woman giving birth), from obstare ('to stand opposite'), from ob- plus stare ('to stand').

obstetrix Latin stare Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Health & Medicine Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# obstetrics

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /əbˈstɛtrɪks/
**IPA (UK):** /əbˈstɛtrɪks/

## Meanings
1. the branch of medicine concerned with childbirth and pregnancy care

## Examples
- After residency she specialized in obstetrics and delivered hundreds of babies.

## Synonyms
- midwifery
- tocology

## Related Forms
- obstetric
- obstetrician

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: obstetrix
- Root: stare

## Etymology
From Latin obstetrix ('midwife'), literally 'one who stands before' (the woman giving birth), from obstare ('to stand opposite'), from ob- plus stare ('to stand').

## AI Etymology
Obstetrics is from Latin obstetrix ('midwife'), literally 'one who stands before' (the woman giving birth), from obstare ('to stand opposite'), from ob- plus stare ('to stand'). Important recorded forms include obstetrix (Latin) and stare (Latin). The modern sense follows that older lexical line closely. In current use it covers the branch of medicine concerned with childbirth and pregnancy care. The wider family includes related words such as obstetric and obstetrician.

## Topics
- Health & Medicine
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown