couvade

[ koo-vahd; French koo-vad ]
/ kuˈvɑd; French kuˈvad /

noun

a practice among some peoples, as the Basques of Spain, in which a man, immediately preceding the birth of his child, takes to his bed in an enactment of the birth experience and subjects himself to various taboos usually associated with pregnancy.

Origin of couvade

1860–65; < French (now obsolete), literally, a hatching, sitting on eggs, equivalent to couv(er) to hatch (< Latin cubāre to lie down) + -ade -ade1; cf. covey

Words nearby couvade

couthie, coutil, couture, couturier, couturière, couvade, couvade syndrome, couvelaire uterus, couvert, couzin, coué

Example sentences from the Web for couvade

British Dictionary definitions for couvade

couvade
/ (kuːˈvɑːd, French kuvad) /

noun

anthropol a custom in certain cultures of treating the husband of a woman giving birth as if he were bearing the child

Word Origin for couvade

C19: from French, from couver to hatch, from Latin cubāre to lie down

Medical definitions for couvade

couvade
[ kōō-väd′ ]

n.

A practice in certain non-Western cultures in which the husband of a woman in labor takes to his bed as though he were bearing the child.