A mother is the natural or social female parent of an offspring.

In the case of a mammal such as a human, the mother gestates her child (called first an embryo, then a fetus) in the womb from conception until the foetus is sufficiently well-developed to be born. The mother then goes into labour and gives birth. Once the child is born, the mother produces milk, a process called lactation, to feed the child.

In non-sexual organisms, "mother" can sometimes be used to mean "parent"; in the case of single-celled organisms that reproduce by fission, the mother is a cell that divides to produce "daughters".

A mother may be able to receive ante-natal care^[1] during her pregnancy to assist her in several arising issues.

Mothers typically have a very important role in raising children, and the title mother can be given to a woman other than a biological parent who fills this role. This is most commonly either an adoptive mother or a stepmother (the biologically unrelated wife of a child's father). Nowadays, with advances in reproductive technologies, the function of biological motherhood can be split between the genetic mother (who provides the ovum) and the gestational mother (who carries the pregnancy), and in theory neither might be the social mother (the one who brings up the child).

The term mother can also refer to a person with stereotypical traits of a mother such as nurturing and other-centredness.

Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are:

• mum or mummy, usual in the UK, Australia, and parts of Canada;
• mom or mommy, in North America (especially the U.S.), and in the Midland areas of England; especially the Black Country.
• mam or mammy, in parts of North Wales, the South Wales valleys , Ireland, Northern England and The Netherlands;
• mama and ma, in parts of Latin America and other Spanish-speaking cultures

In many European languages, similar pronunciations apply; maman in French, mamma in Italian, or mama in Russian. In many south Asian cultures, the mother is known as amma or oma or ammi, or variations thereof. The "M" sound seems to be near universal to the word mother in many different languages; this is thought to be related to one of the first sounds an infant learns to control, the smacking of its lips together as it comes off the breast. (See breastfeeding.) Many times these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child's life.

In some societies, single motherhood, the state of being an unmarried mother, is treated as a serious social issue.

In Northern Ireland, young, single mothers are called 'Pearl Young'. ^{[citation needed]}

• Father
• Breastfeeding