Wordwyrt

matronly

/ˈmeɪtɹənli/MAY-truhn-lee
/ˈmeɪtɹənli/MAY-truhn-lee

Meaninglike a matron

Common meaning: plump and dignified, like an older woman

Journey through time

  1. Latinmāter, mātris‘mother’
  2. Frenchmatrone
  3. Middle Englishmatronesource
  4. Englishmatron‘a senior nurse’
  5. Englishformed in English from matronmatronly‘plump and dignified, like an older woman’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Formed in English from matron + -ly.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), MATRON, p.358 · scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app