birth mother

noun

: the mother of a child when the child is born

specifically : a woman who gave birth to a child who has been adopted

They had turned to an open adoption after pursuing infertility treatments for 18 years, and the birth mother had agreed to relinquish custody at the hospital.

—Emily Nussbaum

Examples of birth mother in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This notion is complicated by Ito’s turbulent relationship with her birth mother. —Literary Hub, 28 Apr. 2026

This legacy of pain is why Abbi is sharing her own story as a birth mother. —Sam Gillette, PEOPLE, 26 Apr. 2026

In the past timeline, Agnes finds out her birth mother was a Handmaid and not her beloved adoptive mother, Tabitha. —Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 16 Apr. 2026

Hannes Delcroix, a twenty-seven-year-old center-back, who was two years old when a family from Belgium adopted him, connected with his birth mother and cousins in Haiti several years ago. —Albert Samaha, New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for birth mother

• another
• godmother
• grandmother
• stepbrother
• stepmother
• brother
• nother
• other
• smother
• souther

Legal Definition

birth mother

noun

birth moth·​er

: the woman who gave birth to a child especially as distinguished from the child's adoptive mother