matr-

1. variant of matri- before a vowel.

Example Sentences

Choreographed by Jasmine Hearn and featuring members of the Seattle Festival of Dance + Improvisation professional cohort, “We’ll Remember Your Spine, Matr” is a site-specific performance that considers the land coordinates of downtown’s Freeway Park.

From Seattle Times

Strikes on Bani Matr, an outlying district of Sana, have killed and injured dozens of civilians in recent days, and more casualties were reported in Tuesday’s strikes.

From Los Angeles Times

And Matr�na pitied the stranger, and took a liking for him.

From Project Gutenberg

And as Sem�n thought of Matr�na, he felt sorry; and as he looked at the stranger and recalled how he had looked at him at the chapel, his blood began to play in his heart.

From Project Gutenberg

Matr�na put the bread away, and seated herself at the table to put a patch in her husband's shirt.

From Project Gutenberg

Words That Use matr-

What does matr- mean?

The combining form matr- is used like a prefix meaning “mother.” It is an extremely rare combining form.

The form matr- comes from Latin māter, meaning “mother.” The word matrix, which has various meanings, including “womb,” comes from this same Latin root, as does matron, “a married woman.”

The “father” counterpart to matr- is patr-. Check out our Words That Use article for patr- to learn more.

The Greek cognate of Latin māter is mḗtēr, also meaning “mother,” which is the source of words such as metropolis, a term that literally means “mother city.” Find out more at our entries for matrix, matron, and metropolis.

What are variants of matr-?

Matr- is a rare variant of matri-, which loses its -i- when combined with words or word elements beginning with vowels. Another rare variant of matri- is matro-, as in matrocliny. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for each of these forms.

What are some other forms that matri- may be commonly confused with?

• mast-
• masto-
• metr-
• metro-
• micro-

Not every word that begins with the exact letters matri- or matr-, like matrass or matriculate, is necessarily using the combining form matri- to denote “mother.” Learn why matriculate means “to enroll” at our entry for the word.