different between conception vs mooncalf

English

Etymology

From Middle English concepcioun, borrowed from Old French conception, from Latin concepti? (“a comprehending, a collection, composition, an expression, also a becoming pregnant”), from concipi?, past participle conceptus (“conceive”); see conceive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?n?s?p??n/

Noun

conception (countable and uncountable, plural conceptions)

1. The act of conceiving.
2. The state of being conceived; the beginning.
3. The fertilization of an ovum by a sperm to form a zygote.
4. The start of pregnancy.
5. The formation of a conceptus or an implanted embryo.
6. The power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind; the power of recalling a past sensation or perception; the ability to form mental abstractions.
7. An image, idea, or notion formed in the mind; a concept, plan or design.

Antonyms

• misconception

Coordinate terms

• inception

Related terms

• conceive
• concept

Translations

See also

• contraception

References

• conception in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• conception in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• nonectopic

French

Etymology

From Old French conception, concepcion, borrowed from Latin conceptio, conceptionem (“comprehension, understanding”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.s?p.sj??/

Noun

conception f (plural conceptions)

1. conception (of a child)
2. conception (beginning, start)
3. ability to understand
4. viewpoint; angle
5. concept, idea

Related terms

• concept
• concevoir

Further reading

• “conception” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Old French

Alternative forms

• concepcion

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin conceptio, conceptionem (“comprehension, understanding”).

Noun

conception f (oblique plural conceptions, nominative singular conception, nominative plural conceptions)

1. conception (of a child)

Descendants

• ? Middle English: concepcioun, concepcion, concepciun, concepcyon, consepcioun
  • English: conception
• French: conception

English

Alternative forms

• moon-calf

Etymology

From moon +? calf, after a superstition that the moon caused abnormal fetal development.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?mu?nk??f/

Noun

mooncalf (plural mooncalves)

1. (now rare) An abnormal mass within the uterus; a false conception. [from 16th c.]
   • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II, Scene 2,^[1]

     Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How camest thou to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can he vent Trinculos?

2. A poorly-conceived idea or plan. [from 17th c.]
3. A dreamer, someone absent-minded or distracted; a fool, simpleton. [from 17th c.]
   • 1902, John Kendrick Bangs, Olympian Nights, New York: Harper & Bros., Chapter 10, p. 185,^[2]

     “ […] you’re a jobbernowl and a doodle, a maundering mooncalf and a blockheaded numps, a gaby and a loon; you’re a Hatter!” I shrieked the last epithet.

   • 1957, Ogden Nash, “Come On In, The Senility Is Fine” in You Can’t Get There From Here, Boston: Little, Brown & Co., p. 66,^[3]

     But I can think of no one but a mooncalf or a gaby

     Who would trust their own child to raise a baby.

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber, 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 463,

     He slipped it softly onto her unresisting finger and, like the unwise moncalf he was, kissed it.

Related terms

• moon
• moonstruck
• moonbat