What does accoucheur mean?
An accoucheur is a man who attends women during childbirth — in effect, a male midwife or obstetrician. The term entered English from French in the late eighteenth century, an era when male medical practitioners increasingly took over deliveries that had traditionally been managed by female midwives, especially among wealthy and aristocratic families. Because of this history, the word carries a distinctly period flavor: it appears most often today in historical writing about medicine, in biographies of pioneering physicians, or in fiction set in past centuries. Its feminine counterpart, accoucheuse, denotes a woman who assists at births. In contemporary usage the word has been almost entirely displaced by 'obstetrician' and 'midwife', so encountering it usually signals either historical context or deliberate formality. Related terms include accouchement, meaning the process of giving birth.
nounA man who assists women in childbirth; a male midwife or obstetrician.
- A man who assists at childbirth; a male midwife or obstetrician.
"The village relied on a single accoucheur who had trained in Paris before settling there."
"In eighteenth-century London, fashionable families engaged a skilled accoucheur rather than a traditional midwife."
"The young accoucheur was summoned at dawn when labor began earlier than expected."
Regular plural; used when referring to multiple birth attendants, often in historical contexts.
"Several prominent accoucheurs published treatises on safe delivery practices."
Before obstetrics became a medical specialty, kings and queens hired a personal 'accoucheur' — a gentleman whose entire job was delivering royal babies.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of accoucheur
Accoucheur comes from French accoucher, meaning 'to deliver' or 'to be delivered of a child', formed from the prefix a- plus coucher ('to lay down, to put to bed'), which derives from Latin collocare, 'to place together'. The word passed into English in the late eighteenth century alongside the rise of male practitioners in childbirth. It shares its Latin root with everyday words such as couch and collocation.
Related word forms
How accoucheur is actually used
The word is formal and somewhat dated, now largely historical; modern English typically uses 'obstetrician' or 'midwife'. It carries a slightly old-fashioned, clinical, or aristocratic flavor.
Easily confused with accoucheur
An accoucheur is a male attendant at childbirth, while an accoucheuse is the female equivalent — a woman who assists in childbirth.