surrogate mother

noun

1. a person who acts in the place of another person's biological mother.
2. an animal that is given another's offspring to raise.
3. Medicine/Medical. a woman who helps a couple to have a child by carrying to term an embryo conceived by the couple and transferred to her uterus, or by being inseminated with the man's sperm and either donating the embryo for transfer to the woman's uterus or carrying it to term.

surrogate mother

/ ˈsʌrəɡəsɪ /

noun

1. a woman who bears a child on behalf of a couple unable to have a child, either by artificial insemination from the man or implantation of an embryo from the woman

Derived Forms

• surrogacy, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of surrogate mother¹

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

“Oh, it’s so nice you have a surrogate mother in L.A.,” my own mother would often say of Loraine when she visited from the East Coast.

From Los Angeles Times

In her order, Justice Singh also cited a number of cases of posthumous reproduction, including a 2002 case from Israel where the parents of a 19-year-old soldier killed in Gaza had obtained legal permission to use their son’s sperm to have a child through a surrogate mother.

From BBC

“Oh, it’s so nice you have a surrogate mother in L.A.,” my own mother would often say of Loraine when she visited from the East Coast.

From Los Angeles Times

A couple has said their life has been made "hell" as they try to return to the UK with their daughter, who born through a surrogate mother in Belarus.

From BBC

They said the surrogate mother, who is in her 30s and a mother of three herself, was paid around £275 a month for 10 months and a £13,000 fee once the baby was born, as well as her daily expenses.

From BBC