mid.wife
midwife的音标和读音：
DJ音标发音： [ˈmidˌwaif]
KK音标发音： [ˈmɪdˌwaɪf]
midwife的词性：
n.（名词）
1. A person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth.Also called Regional granny
助产士，接生员，产婆：在妇女临产时为其接生的人，通常为妇女也作 【区域的】 granny
2. One who assists in or takes a part in bringing about a result:
促成者：帮助或参与促成某一结果的人：
“In the Renaissance, artists and writers start to serve as midwives of fame”(Carlin Romano)
“在文艺复兴时期，艺术家和作家开始成为有声望的人”(卡林·罗马诺)
midwife的词性：
v.tr.（及物动词）
3. To assist in the birth of (a baby).
接生：帮助（胎儿）出生
4. To assist in bringing forth or about:
促成：帮助促成…的产生：
“Washington's efforts to midwife a Mideast settlement”(Newsweek)
“华盛顿方面努力促成中东问题的解决”(新闻周刊)
midwife的词源：
5. Middle English midwof
中古英语 midwof
6. probably mid [with] from Old English * see me- 2
可能为 mid [和…一起] 源自 古英语 *参见 me- 2
7. wif [woman] from Old English wof
wif [妇女] 源自 古英语 wof
midwife的注释：
8. The word midwife is the sort of word whose etymology is perfectly clear until one tries to figure it out. Wife would seem to refer to the woman giving birth, who is usually a wife, but mid ? A knowledge of older senses of words helps us with this puzzle. Wife in its earlier history meant “woman,” as it still did when the compound midwife was formed in Middle English (first recorded around 1300). Mid is probably a preposition, meaning “together with.” Thus a midwife was literally a “with woman” or “a woman who assists other women in childbirth.” Even though obstetrics has been rather resistant to midwifery until fairly recently, the etymology of obstetric is rather similar, going back to the Latin word obstetrox, “a midwife,” from the verb obst3re, “to stand in front of,” and the feminine suffix -trix; the obstetrox would thus literally stand in front of the baby.
单词midwife 属于那类语源看起来相当明了的词， 可当人们试着搞清楚时，才发现并不那么简单。Wife 似乎是指临产的妇女， 通常都身为人妇，但是mid 指的是什么呢？ 通过了解词语原有的含义我们可以解开这个谜。Wife 早期时意指“妇女”， 当midwife 这个复合词在中古英语中形成的时候它仍然有此含义（首次记载于1300年前后）。 Mid 有可能是个介词， 意为“与…在一起”。 这样midwife 字面上的意思就是“与妇女在一起”或者“帮助临产妇女生产的妇女”。 虽然直到近期产科学还一直抵制助产术一词，但是obstetric 的语源却与其很相似。 它可以上溯到拉丁词语obstetrix 意为“接生者”， 该词由动词obstare “站在…的前面”再加上阴性后缀 -trix 构成； 于是obstetrix 这个词字面上的意思是站在婴儿前面的人