allomother

noun
/ˈæləˌmʌðə(ɹ)/UK/ˈæləˌmʌðɚ/US

Etymology

From allo- + mother.

  1. derived from *muþraz — “sediment
  2. inherited from *méh₂tēr
  3. inherited from *mōdēr
  4. inherited from *mōder
  5. inherited from mōdor
  6. inherited from moder
  7. prefixed as allomother — “allo + mother

Definitions

  1. A human or other creature that provides some maternal care for the young born of another.

    • Within hours of birth, baby langurs are spirited away from their mothers. They spend up to 50 percent of daylight hours passed from allomother to allomother
    • Among the !Kung foragers of the Kalahari, babies are held by a father, grandmother, older sibling or some other allomother maybe 25 percent of the time.
  2. To provide maternal care for another creature's young.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for allomother. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA