Word · Frequency #7122
maternity
母性；怀孕；母职
The state of being pregnant; the period of pregnancy; motherhood.
- 1.
The state of being a mother; motherhood.
母亲身份；母性。
- 2.
The state of being pregnant; pregnancy.
怀孕状态；妊娠。
- 3.
A ward or department in a hospital in which babies are born.
医院里用于接生婴儿的病房或科室。
母亲身份；母性。；怀孕状态；妊娠。；医院里用于接生婴儿的病房或科室。；母性；怀孕
In use
She is currently on maternity leave after giving birth to twins.
The maternity wing of the hospital was renovated to be more comfortable.
Her strong sense of maternity emerged when she cradled the baby.
take maternity leave
She decided to take maternity leave after giving birth.
她决定生完孩子后休产假。
maternity + noun
maternity作形容词时，常修饰与孕妇、产妇相关的名词。
She bought a maternity dress for the baby shower.
她为婴儿派对买了一条孕妇裙。
Common mistakes
She has strong maternity instincts.
Connections
Collocations
- maternity leave
- 产假
- She is on maternity leave.她正在休产假。
- maternity ward
- 产科病房
- The hospital has a new maternity ward.这家医院有一个新的产科病房。
- maternity dress
- 孕妇装
- She bought a comfortable maternity dress.她买了一件舒适的孕妇装。
- maternity benefits
- 产假福利
- The company offers generous maternity benefits.公司提供优厚的产假福利。
- maternity care
- 产妇护理
- Good maternity care is essential for new mothers.良好的产妇护理对新妈妈至关重要。
- maternity clothes
Learner notes
Memory Tip
“maternity”可拆为“ma（妈）+ternity（特尼提）”，想象妈妈特有母性。母性就是妈妈的特质。
Context & Register
医疗（如maternity ward）、人力资源（如maternity leave）、日常购物（如maternity dress）；语域混合，正式语境常见，日常使用也普遍。注：通常用于正式或半正式场合，在日常口语中也常见。
Grammar Note
作为名词时，常作不可数用，表示母性；但也可作可数名词，指妇产科医院。作为形容词时，仅用作定语。
Pronunciation & Spelling
The words 'eternity', 'paternity', and 'fraternity' share the stressed vowel /ɜː/ and ending '-nity' with 'maternity', thus they rhyme. Other common '-ity' words like 'humanity', 'community', and 'opportunity' have different stressed vowels and do not rhyme.
Usage priority
Collins 词频等级为 1，建议结合例句记忆，而不是只背中文释义。
Learn the forms together
页面下方列出了常见词形变化。学习时注意它们在句子中的语法位置。
Dictionary facts from ECDICT, WIKTIONARY.