gestation
pronunciation
How to pronounce gestation in British English:
UK [dʒeˈsteɪʃn]
How to pronounce gestation in American English:
US [dʒɛˈsteʃən]
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- Noun:
- the period during which an embryo develops (about 266 days in humans)
- the state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing fetus in her uterus
- the conception and development of an idea or plan
Word Origin
- gestation
- gestation: [16] Etymologically, gestation is the period during which unborn young is ‘carried’ inside the womb. Indeed, to begin with the word meant simply ‘carrying’ in English (‘Gestacion, that is to be carried of another thing, without any travail of the body itself’, William Bullein, Bulwark of Defence Against All Sickness 1562). It comes from Latin gestātiō, a derivative of the verb gerere ‘carry, conduct oneself, act’.This has given a wide variety of words to English, including congest, digest, gerund, gesture, jester, register, and suggest (gerund [16] comes from Latin gerundum, a variant of gerendum ‘carrying on’, the gerund of gerere).=> congest, digest, gesture, jester, register, suggest
- gestation (n.)
- "action or process of carrying young in the womb," 1610s, earlier (1530s) "riding on horseback, etc., as a form of exercise," from Latin gestationem (nominative gestatio) "a carrying," noun of action from past participle stem of gestare "bear, carry, gestate," frequentative of gerere (past participle gestus) "to bear, carry, bring forth" (see gest). Meaning "action or process of carrying young in the womb" is from 1610s.
Example
- 1. Gestation 8 months , each child an aberdeen .
- 2. Anthropologists have long thought that the size of the pelvis has limited human gestation length .
- 3. It was the 34-year-old 's first pregnancy and her baby had reached 38 weeks gestation .
- 4. Temi 's pregnancy lasted 670 days , the usual 22-month gestation period for the species .
- 5. The extraordinary length of the book 's gestation meant that much changed between conception and publication .