Mother

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For other uses of "mother" see Mother (disambiguation)

Faces of mother and child; detail of sculpture at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Female mallard duck and ducklings

A mother is the biological or social female parent of an offspring.

In the case of a mammal such as a human, the biological mother gestates her child (called first an embryo, then a fetus) in the womb from conception until the fetus is sufficiently well-developed to be born. The mother then goes into labour and gives birth. Once the child is born, the mother produces milk, a process called lactation, to feed the child.

In non-sexual organisms, "mother" can sometimes be used to mean "parent"; in the case of single-celled organisms that reproduce by fission, the mother is a cell that divides to produce "daughters".

Mothers typically have a very important role in raising children, and the title mother can be given to a woman other than a biological parent who fills this role. This is most commonly either an adoptive mother or a stepmother (the wife of a child's father). Nowadays, with advances in reproductive technologies, the function of biological motherhood can be split between the genetic mother (who provides the ovum) and the gestational mother (who carries the pregnancy), and in theory neither might be the social mother (the one who brings up the child).

The term mother can also refer to a person with stereotypical traits of a mother such as nurturing and other-centredness.

"Mum"/"mummy" (usually British or Commonwealth English), "Mom"/"mommy" (usually American English, though also used in Birmingham and The Black Country areas of England.), "Mam"/"mammy" (usually Welsh/ Irish/ Northern English), "mama" and "ma" are some familiar or colloquial words for a mother. In many European languages, similar pronounciations apply; "Maman" in French, "Mamma" in Italian or "Mama" in Russian. In many south Asian cultures, the mother is known as "Amma" or "Oma" or "Ammi", or variations thereof. The "M" sound seems to be near universal to the word mother in many different languages.This is thought to be related to one of the first sounds an infant learns to control, the smacking of its lips together as it comes off the breast. (See breastfeeding.) Many times these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child's life.

In some societies, single motherhood, the state of being an unmarried mother, is treated as a serious social issue.

[edit] Folklore and mythology

Mothers are celebrated yearly, on Mother's Day, in many countries around the world. In many branches of Christianity, the Virgin Mary is also celebrated as the Mother of Jesus (theotokos). Other examples of the divine mother archetype include Juno, Inanna-Astarte-Demeter, Isis, Ninsun, Demeter and Aditi.