See motherese on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_links": [
[
"*méh₂tēr",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/méh₂tēr#Proto-Indo-European:_mother"
],
[
"*mōdēr",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/mōdēr#Proto-Germanic:_mother"
],
[
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"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/mōder#Proto-West_Germanic:_mother"
],
[
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],
[
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],
[
"mother",
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],
[
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"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-iskos#Proto-Indo-European:_pertaining_to"
],
[
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"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-iskaz#Proto-Germanic:_pertaining_to"
],
[
"*-isk",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/-isk#Proto-West_Germanic:_adjective"
],
[
"-iscus",
"-iscus#Latin"
],
[
"-iscus",
"-iscus#Latin"
],
[
"-ēnsis",
"-ensis#Latin"
],
[
"-eis",
"-eis#Old_French:_-eis_fro"
],
[
"-eys",
"-eys#Middle_English:_-eys_enm"
],
[
"-ese",
"-ese#English"
],
[
"mother",
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],
[
"-ese",
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"name": "ety"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr\nProto-Germanic *mōdēr\nProto-West Germanic *mōder\nOld English mōdor\nMiddle English moder\nEnglish mother\nProto-Indo-European *-iskos\nProto-Germanic *-iskaz\nProto-West Germanic *-iskbor.\nLate Latin -iscus\n▲\nVulgar Latin -iscus\nLatin -ēnsis\nOld French -eisbor.\nMiddle English -eys\nEnglish -ese\nEnglish motherese\nFrom mother + -ese.",
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"name": "en-noun"
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],
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"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries referencing pages with etymology sections missing etymons",
"parents": [],
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{
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"ref": "2016, Joseph Henrich, chapter 13, in The Secret of Our Success […] , Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN:",
"text": "With its slow and exaggerated intonations, motherese speeds language learning by providing input that is easier for infants to process.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Baby talk."
],
"id": "en-motherese-en-noun-ImBpRgCF",
"links": [
[
"Baby talk",
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]
],
"tags": [
"uncountable"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "motherese — see also baby talk",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "mamanais"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "motherese — see also baby talk",
"tags": [
"colloquial",
"neuter"
],
"topics": [
"scientific",
"sciences"
],
"word": "Mutterisch"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "motherese — see also baby talk",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "mowa matczyna"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "motherese — see also baby talk",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "maternés"
}
]
}
],
"word": "motherese"
}
{
"etymology_links": [
[
"*méh₂tēr",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/méh₂tēr#Proto-Indo-European:_mother"
],
[
"*mōdēr",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/mōdēr#Proto-Germanic:_mother"
],
[
"*mōder",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/mōder#Proto-West_Germanic:_mother"
],
[
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"modor#Old_English:_mother"
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],
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],
[
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"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/-iskaz#Proto-Germanic:_pertaining_to"
],
[
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],
[
"-iscus",
"-iscus#Latin"
],
[
"-iscus",
"-iscus#Latin"
],
[
"-ēnsis",
"-ensis#Latin"
],
[
"-eis",
"-eis#Old_French:_-eis_fro"
],
[
"-eys",
"-eys#Middle_English:_-eys_enm"
],
[
"-ese",
"-ese#English"
],
[
"mother",
"mother#English"
],
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"-ese",
"-ese#English"
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"name": "ety"
}
],
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"Entries with translation boxes",
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"Pages with 1 entry",
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"type": "quotation"
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],
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"Baby talk."
],
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[
"Baby talk",
"baby talk"
]
],
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"uncountable"
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}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "fr",
"lang": "French",
"lang_code": "fr",
"sense": "motherese — see also baby talk",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "mamanais"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"lang_code": "de",
"sense": "motherese — see also baby talk",
"tags": [
"colloquial",
"neuter"
],
"topics": [
"scientific",
"sciences"
],
"word": "Mutterisch"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "motherese — see also baby talk",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "mowa matczyna"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"sense": "motherese — see also baby talk",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "maternés"
}
],
"word": "motherese"
}
Download raw JSONL data for motherese meaning in All languages combined (7.0kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-10-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.