maternity
ma·tern·i·ty/məˈtɜɹnəti/noun
maternity is spelled M-A-T-E-R-N-I-T-Y: 9 letters and 4 syllables (ma·tern·i·ty). It appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, maternity means “The state of being a mother; motherhood” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of maternity is maternities.
How many letters and syllables are in maternity?
| Letters | 9: M-A-T-E-R-N-I-T-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: ma·tern·i·ty |
| In writing | 4.6 times per million words; the 11,870th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is maternity?
Maternity appears 4.6 times per million words in written English, the 11,870th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce maternity?
- UK /məˈtɜːnɪti/
- US /məˈtɜɹnəti/
- US [-ɾi]
Maternity has 4 syllables, split ma·tern·i·ty in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-maternity.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with maternity?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as maternity from its last stressed vowel (/ɜɹnəti/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of maternity
- maternities plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does maternity mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The state of being a mother; motherhood.
- 2
The state of being pregnant; pregnancy.
- 3
A ward or department in a hospital in which babies are born.
She's working in maternity this month.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate maternity?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of maternity: mat..
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does maternity come from?
From French maternité, from Latin māternitās.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).