allomother

English

WOTD – 15 October 2012

Etymology

From allo- +‎ mother.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæləˌmʌðə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæləˌmʌðɚ/

Noun

allomother (plural allomothers)

1. (zoology) A human or other creature that provides some maternal care for the young born of another.
   • 2000, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Mother Nature: Maternal Instincts and how They Shape the Human Species, page 162:

     Within hours of birth, baby langurs are spirited away from their mothers. They spend up to 50 percent of daylight hours passed from allomother to allomother

   • 2009 March 3, Natalie Angier, “In a Helpless Baby, the Roots of Our Social Glue”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     Among the !Kung foragers of the Kalahari, babies are held by a father, grandmother, older sibling or some other allomother maybe 25 percent of the time.

Synonyms

• othermother

Related terms

• allomaternal

Translations

one that provides maternal care

• Finnish: sijaisäiti
• Portuguese: alomãe f
• Russian: са́мка-помо́щница f (sámka-pomóščnica)

Verb

allomother (third-person singular simple present allomothers, present participle allomothering, simple past and past participle allomothered)

1. (transitive) To provide maternal care for another creature's young.