godmother

English

Etymology

From Middle English godmoder, from Old English godmōdor (“godmother”), equivalent to god- +‎ mother. Cognate with Old High German gotmuoter (“godmother”), Old Norse guðmóðir (“godmother”), Icelandic guðmóður (“godmother”), Swedish gudmoder (“godmother”), Danish gudmor (“godmother”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɒdmʌðə/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Hyphenation: god‧mother

Noun

godmother (plural godmothers)

A woman present at the christening of a baby who promises to help raise the child in a Christian manner; a female godparent who sponsors the baptism of a child.

Synonyms

Hypernyms

godparent

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

woman present at the christening of a baby who promises to help raise the child in a Christian manner

Arabic: عَرَّابَة f (ʕarrāba), إِشْبِينَة f (ʔišbīna)
Armenian: կնքամայր (hy) (knkʻamayr)
Asturian: madrina (ast) f
Basque: amabitxi (eu)
Belarusian: хро́сная ма́ці f (xrósnaja máci), хро́сная f (xrósnaja)
Bulgarian: кръ́стница f (krǎ́stnica)
Catalan: padrina (ca) f
Chavacano: padrina
Chinese:
Mandarin: 乾娘 / 干娘 (zh) (gānniáng), 教母 (zh) (jiàomǔ)
Czech: kmotra (cs) f
Danish: gudmor c, gudmoder c
Dutch: meter (nl) f
Esperanto: baptopatrino
Finnish: kummitäti (fi)
French: marraine (fr) f
Galician: madriña f
Georgian: ნათლიდედა (natlideda), ნათლია n (natlia)
German: Patin (de) f, Patentante (de) f, Taufpatin (de) f, Gotte (de) f (Swiss, Alemannic), Firmgodl f (Austrian), Firmpatin (de) f, Godel f (South German), Godl (de) f (Austrian, Bavarian), Gote (de) f (regional), Taufgodl f (Austrian), Gevatterin (de) f
Greek: νονά (el) f (noná)
Hungarian: keresztanya (hu)
Ido: baptomatro (io)
Indonesian: ibu baptis
Ingrian: naiskooma, maattuška
Irish: máthair bhaistí f
Italian: comare (it) f (godmother of one's child), madrina (it) f (one's own godmother)
Japanese: 教母 (きょうぼ, kyōbo), 代母 (だいぼ, daibo)
Javanese: nini among
Korean: 대모(代母) (ko) (daemo)
Latin: matrina f
Latvian: krustmāte
Macedonian: кума f (kuma)
Nheengatu: manhangawa
Norman: mârraine f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: gudmor m or f

Nynorsk: gudmor f
Occitan: mairina (oc) f
Persian:
Iranian Persian: مادَرْخوانْدِه (mâdarxânde), مادَرَنْدَر (mâdarandar)
Polabian: federă f
Polish: matka chrzestna (pl), chrzestna (pl) f
Portuguese: madrinha (pt) f (reflects the relationship to the baptized child); comadre (pt) f (reflects the relationship to the parents of the baptized child, not to the child)
Romanian: nașă (ro) f, nună (ro) f
Romansch: madritscha f, madretscha f
Russian: крёстная мать f (krjóstnaja matʹ), крёстная (ru) f (krjóstnaja)
Scottish Gaelic: muime f, màthair-bhaiste f, bana-ghoistidh m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ку́ма f

Roman: kúma (sh) f
Sicilian: cummari f or f pl (godmother of one's child), parrina f (one's own godmother)
Slovak: krstná mama f (reflects the relationship to the baptized child); kmotra f (reflects the relationship to the parents of the baptized child, not to the child)
Slovene: botra (sl) f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: kmótša f
Spanish: madrina (es) f, comadre (es) f
Swedish: gudmor (sv) c, gudmoder (sv) c
Tagalog: inaama, ninang (tl), madrina
Tajik: модархонди таъмидӣ (modarxond-i taʾmidi)
Taos: kumàyliʼína
Thai: แม่ทูนหัว (th) (mɛ̂ɛ-tuun-hǔua), แม่อุปถัมภ์ (mɛ̂ɛ-ù-bpà-tǎm)
Ukrainian: хреще́на ма́ти f (xreščéna máty), хреще́на f (xreščéna), хре́сна ма́ти f (xrésna máty), хре́сна f (xrésna)
Vietnamese: mẹ đỡ đầu (vi)
Volapük: spönan (vo) m or f, jispönan f
Welsh: mam fedydd f

Verb

godmother (third-person singular simple present godmothers, present participle godmothering, simple past and past participle godmothered)

(transitive) To act as godmother to.
- 1909, H. G. Wells, Tono-Bungay:
  The servants took to her – as they say – she godmothered three Susans during her rule, the coachman's, the gardener's and the Up Hill gamekeeper's.

References

godmother on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Middle English

Noun

godmother

(Late Middle English) Alternative form of godmoder