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Explanation: IMO, he "conceived" many children .... Under normal circumstances, it is only the woman that "conceives". So, no "conceive" cannot be used in reference to a man alone. But one never knows what with this world changing so much, and with the advent of horrible terms such as Mx (off-toipic - gender neutral), it would not be surprising (joke!).
However, in exceptional cases, here are some examples of "conceive", but always in conjunction with a partner, or a third party. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06donor.html Cynthia Daily and her partner used a sperm donor to conceive a baby seven years ago, ....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_pregnancy George Francisco and his wife Susan decide to have a third child, it is revealed that, in order to conceive, a Tectonese couple needs a third party, called a binnaum, to complete impregnation, and that the male carries the baby—encased in a pod—during the final months of gestation.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/es/diccionario/ingles/conc... 4. verbo When a woman conceives, she becomes pregnant. Women, he says, should give up alcohol before they plan to conceive. [VERB] About one in six couples has difficulty conceiving. [VERB] A mother who already has non-identical twins is more likely to conceive another set of twins. [VERB noun] become pregnant, get pregnant, become impregnated
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 22 mins (2018-09-22 11:38:43 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_pregnancy Intersex people Certain rare disorders of sex development in karyotpical (46, XY) males cause the paramesonephric ducts to develop into the Müllerian structures required for pregnancy, as in a female. While affected intersex women are infertile (producing no gametes), they may successfully carry and deliver a pregnancy with assisted reproductive technology (ART). There are also documented cases of individuals with XY-predominant mosaicism conceiving naturally, including a person with a 96% XY karyotype and ovotestes (true hermaphroditism).[17] There has been a reported case of an XY-predominant woman who experienced regular menstruation, two natural pregnancies, and gave birth.[18]
Transgender men Main article: Transgender pregnancy Some transgender men can become pregnant. This is possible for transgender men who have undergone female puberty (not taken blockers) and retain functioning ovaries and a uterus even after having otherwise physically transitioned to male with HRT.[19][20][21] While previous testosterone usage does not preclude pregnancy, it must temporarily cease prior to conception and for the duration of the pregnancy to ensure a healthy outcome.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 days 1 hr (2018-09-24 12:22:41 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
I have just noticed something. Where has the edit button gone? Wasn't there a facility at some time (recently) which allowed a contributor to edit their discussion entries? Or is it just me - a glitch perhaps? Or it is a question that edits cannot be, for example, a day or two later, and must be done on the same day that the discussion entry is posted? The only option is to delete now. I can edit this entry which I have just posted, but not the ones I posted yesterday! Uuf!
Didier Declercq (X)
Belgium
To parent (nurture, protect, etc.)
17:28 Sep 23, 2018
Just as to mother has stopped being common for to give birth to, I'd like to see to father evolve into meaning to care for as a father.
It seems only fair to mothers, when fathers can already mother a child.
Thanks, that's what I wanted to know. I am wondering, though: If Amel said it's about "clinical-sounding" without any "warm connotations" (which I agree that "to father" doesn't have), couldn't you just use "impregnate," as Taña had indirectly suggested as part of her answer, so you don't make it about the children at all.
father verb gerund or present participle: fathering be the father of. "he fathered three children" sinónimos: be the father of, sire, engender, generate, bring into being, bring into the world, give life to, spawn; reproduce, breed, (literary), beget treat with the protective care associated with a father. be the source or originator of. sinónimos: establish, institute, originate, initiate, put in place, invent, found, create, generate, conceive
I am playing Devil's advocate here, and apart from words already mentioned "sire, engender, beget", etc., there are two others suggested here, "to spawn", and "to breed" (which, I say this jokingly, is how, we as Jamaicans speak: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20180407/jam... Personally, I am not advocating the use of the term "to breed" as it borders on disparaging, but for a laugh, you can read the link above which provides an insight into the Jamaica society. Typically, men will refer to their pregnant partners/common-law wifes, and if asked if their partner is pregnant, a man would say something like "Yeah man, she a breed fi mi - a accident yuh nuh! Mi figet the condum!". This is meant jokingly. I personally would not use "to spawn" either. Have fun... Regards.
I would say that having children implies more parental involvement than fathering them. Augustus the Strong probably didn't even know all his children, let alone look after them, but the father in your second source did at least attend to their education and spiritual welfare.
What about to "have many children (with)"? [as suggested by Amel]
Here's both "have" and "father": "So, which king had the most bastards? That honor probably goes to Augustus the Strong, born a German prince and elected king of Poland in 1697. He didn't like keeping it in his pants, fathering a reported 354 illegitimate children in his spare time. " https://www.ranker.com/list/leaders-with-the-most-kids/carly...
As you like, but to my ear there's actually nothing "warm" about the verb "to father", because, as we've been saying, it doesn't imply nurturing at all. I wouldn't find it unsuitable to refer to someone fathering children he subsequently murdered. Actually "to father" often has rather impersonal connotations. Frankly it's a bit difficult to think of a good alternative.
@Yvonne: Thanks! Yes, I bet you could find the odd example. @Didier: I did find one or two, to my surprise: in the American Heritage Dictionary, for example: "1. a. To provide the sperm that unites with an egg to produce (an embryo, fetus, or child). b. To act or serve as a father to (a child)." https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=father
But in my experience definition (b) isn't used, as we've said.
Perhaps it should be: the idea that creating children is something men do and looking after them is something women do, which the different uses of "to father" and "to mother" seem to imply, is hardly desirable. Perhaps we should start using "to father" to refer to nurturing. But then nowadays we have "to parent" for that.
I am aware that "father" can be used in the sense you have described (without meaning to nurture, etc.). In my specific context, however, I just don't like the way it sounds, because the person in question also murdered his children, and I believe that the author deliberately used a clinical-sounding word (conceived) to make that distinction, so that no "warm" connotations would be present. I understand that "fathered" does not necessarily have these warm connotations (again, depending on context). But here, I just really wanted to see if I could retain the word chosen by the author - and it seems like we are all in agreement that "conceived" doesn't work, so I thank you all for your valuable input.
oh yes, a good point about difference between the genders as well. "To mother" has completely normal meaning of nurturing and sometimes jokingly written as to (s)mother (with affection!)
Didier Declercq (X)
Belgium
Do they?
15:48 Sep 22, 2018
It's possible that some dictionaries do say that, I haven't checked. Because I agree with you, Charles, that to father a child is not used in the same way as to mother a child. I admit that my entry was misleading, since I wanted to write fathering, not to father, in response to your entry.
Two interpretations: fathering as a verb, and fathering as a noun.
I will edit my first comment; it was not relevant to Amel's issue with "to conceive".
@ Charles Yes, agree that father(ed) as verb is used almost exclusively to mean beget (provide sperm to fertilise egg that results ultimately in a child) but it has been used in literature in past (I think) and here is a South African version https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09589236.2012.70... and perhaps it is still used by some Bible groups to describe God's guidance but wouldn't be at all common. So could be discounted really.
To father is used only in the sense of beget: make a woman pregnant. It is not used to refer to caring for a child in the capacity of a father. Some dictionaries say that it can be used in that sense, and examples may exist, but it is so unusual that I think it can be discounted. To mother someone, on the other hand, does mean caring for as a mother and is not used for procreation itself. Perhaps this says something about inherited gender roles.
Didier Declercq (X)
Belgium
12:51 Sep 22, 2018
I agree with Yvonne. Used intransitively, only a woman can conceive. Used transitively, a man alone can't conceive.
Definitely no to conceived for a man; yes to fathered. Fathering children implies nothing about parenting; it just denotes the act of procreation. You can father a child one day and leave (or die) the next.
fathered doesn't mean necessarily that someone nurtured or cared for children! It's used quite frequently just to describe the fact that some men had children (with various women perhaps) but didn't actually stick around at all to rear them! Sired or engendered are other alternatives though rather archaic https://www.thefreedictionary.com/fathered
Thank you, Yvonne. I feel that "fathered" doesn't work for the context, because the man had physical relations that resulted in children but he did not nurture or care for them. I have other alternatives in mind but am just looking at "conceive" at the moment since this is what appears in a text I am working on (authored by someone else), and I don't want to change it unless necessary.
You haven't given any context but fathered would appear to be best word. No to using conceive for a man. The definition is about the sperm fertilising the woman's egg to create an embryo and this taking place in the fallopian tube before the embryo moving to the womb after a few days. OK, so these days eggs can be fertilised outside the womb in a dish but I still can't see how that can be called conception on the man's part.
One of the "dictionary" definitions of conceive is: "Create (an embryo) by fertilizing an egg." I always think of a woman as being the one to conceive (meaning to get pregnant), but this definition makes me a bit unsure.
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
17 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +4
IMO, no
Explanation: IMO, he "conceived" many children .... Under normal circumstances, it is only the woman that "conceives". So, no "conceive" cannot be used in reference to a man alone. But one never knows what with this world changing so much, and with the advent of horrible terms such as Mx (off-toipic - gender neutral), it would not be surprising (joke!).
However, in exceptional cases, here are some examples of "conceive", but always in conjunction with a partner, or a third party. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/health/06donor.html Cynthia Daily and her partner used a sperm donor to conceive a baby seven years ago, ....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_pregnancy George Francisco and his wife Susan decide to have a third child, it is revealed that, in order to conceive, a Tectonese couple needs a third party, called a binnaum, to complete impregnation, and that the male carries the baby—encased in a pod—during the final months of gestation.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/es/diccionario/ingles/conc... 4. verbo When a woman conceives, she becomes pregnant. Women, he says, should give up alcohol before they plan to conceive. [VERB] About one in six couples has difficulty conceiving. [VERB] A mother who already has non-identical twins is more likely to conceive another set of twins. [VERB noun] become pregnant, get pregnant, become impregnated
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 22 mins (2018-09-22 11:38:43 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_pregnancy Intersex people Certain rare disorders of sex development in karyotpical (46, XY) males cause the paramesonephric ducts to develop into the Müllerian structures required for pregnancy, as in a female. While affected intersex women are infertile (producing no gametes), they may successfully carry and deliver a pregnancy with assisted reproductive technology (ART). There are also documented cases of individuals with XY-predominant mosaicism conceiving naturally, including a person with a 96% XY karyotype and ovotestes (true hermaphroditism).[17] There has been a reported case of an XY-predominant woman who experienced regular menstruation, two natural pregnancies, and gave birth.[18]
Transgender men Main article: Transgender pregnancy Some transgender men can become pregnant. This is possible for transgender men who have undergone female puberty (not taken blockers) and retain functioning ovaries and a uterus even after having otherwise physically transitioned to male with HRT.[19][20][21] While previous testosterone usage does not preclude pregnancy, it must temporarily cease prior to conception and for the duration of the pregnancy to ensure a healthy outcome.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 days 1 hr (2018-09-24 12:22:41 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
Thank you Amel.
Taña Dalglish Jamaica Local time: 18:51 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you, Taña - and everyone.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you, Taña. Like you, I have noticed that the word is often used with reference to both the man and woman in a sentence.
peer agreement (net): +4