maternal
Plural: maternals
Adjective
- Relating to a mother, especially in characteristic tenderness.
- characteristic of a mother; - Dorothy Sayers
- "warm maternal affection for her guest"
- relating to or derived from one's mother
- "maternal genes"
- relating to or characteristic of or befitting a parent
Adjective Satellite
- related on the mother's side
- "my maternal grandmother"
Adj
- Of or pertaining to a mother; having the characteristics of a mother; motherly.
- Related through the mother, or her side of the family.
- Derived from the mother as opposed to the foetus during pregnancy.
Noun
- A mother.
- A person related through the mother, or her side of the family; a maternal relative.
Examples
- He gave a MATERNAL glance to his opponent’s weak board, then played a killer word.
- His weakness seemed to bring out her maternal instincts.
- Toby is my maternal uncle.
Origin / Etymology
PIE word
*méh₂tēr
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English maternal, maternall, from Middle French maternel (“maternal”) (modern French maternel (“maternal; native”)), or from its etymon Late Latin māternālis (“maternal”), from Latin māternus (“maternal; related to the mother or her side of the family”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns). Māternus is derived from māter (“mother”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (“mother”)) + -rnus (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is cognate with Italian maternale, materno, Portuguese maternal, materno, Spanish maternal, materno.
The noun is derived from the adjective.
Scrabble Score: 10
maternal: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordmaternal: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
maternal: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary