modor

female parent

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A compact two-scene family sequence shows a child's original parents at birth, then the same father marrying a different woman with the now-school-aged child beside him.

noun

stepmother

STEP-muh-thur/ˈstepmʌðər/

A parent's wife who is not one's biological mother.

Etymology

stepOld Englishrelated through a parent's remarriage

+motherOld Englishfemale parent

Step-, presumed originally to suggest loss, combined with mother to describe someone becoming a mother to an orphan. The orphanage association faded, leaving the relationship created by marriage to a parent.

Full entry

Related word entries

grandmother
motherFemale parent
motherFermentation film
stepmother