# pregnant

Pronunciation: say "PREG-nuhnt" /ˈpɹɛɡnənt/

## Adjective

1. Carrying young that are developing inside the body; also used of a couple who are expecting a baby together.
   - Simple: Having a baby growing inside the body, or, for a couple, waiting for their baby to be born.
   - _She became pregnant in July and told her family at Christmas._
   - _Pregnant women are advised to avoid certain soft cheeses._
2. Meaningful; full of possibilities, implications, or promise; abounding in resources.
   - Simple: Full of meaning or possibility.
   - _Her short reply was pregnant with meaning that everyone in the room understood._
   - _It was a pregnant moment: the whole negotiation turned on what she said next._
4. Fertile, fecund, or prolific, usually of soil or ground. *(literary)*
   - Simple: In poems, rich and able to grow many things, like good soil.
   - _In her poem the orchard stands on pregnant ground, every branch bowed with fruit._
   - _The valley's pregnant loam yielded two harvests a year._

## Noun

3. A person who is pregnant.
   - Simple: Someone who is going to have a baby.

## Adjective

5. Compelling; clear, evident, now rare. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: In old use, very clear and strong, so that it cannot be argued with.
6. Ready to let something in or take it in; disposed to give way, comply, or act without delay. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: In old use, open and ready to take something in.
7. Ready-witted; clever; ingenious. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: In old use, quick and clever.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4, 6–7** — From Middle English preignant, borrowed through Old French from Latin praegnāns ('pregnant'), probably formed from prae- ('pre-') plus *gnāscī, an archaic form of nāscī ('to be born'). It displaced the Old English bearnēacen, literally 'child-enlarged'.
**Meaning 5** — The apparent source is Middle French pregnant, preignant, meaning "pressing, compelling," which was formed as the present participle of the verb prembre ("to press"). Behind that verb lies Latin premere, also meaning "to press."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pregnant (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).