A female doctor, midwife, or attendant who assists women during childbirth; the feminine form of accoucheur.
From French accoucheuse, feminine form of accoucheur. French maintains gendered forms for occupations, which English borrowed along with the professional terminology.
The fact that English borrowed both the masculine 'accoucheur' and feminine 'accoucheuse' shows that by the 1700s, women were actually practicing obstetrics in some places—these gendered terms document women's professional visibility at a time when we often think they had none.
Accoucheuse (French for female birth attendant) is the feminine form created to distinguish female from male practitioners, reflecting the male-centered language and professionalization of obstetrics.
Use 'midwife', 'obstetrician', or 'birth attendant' in modern English. Accoucheuse is historically accurate but gendered.
["midwife","obstetrician","birth attendant"]
Accoucheuses were women practitioners who maintained birthing knowledge but were systematically devalued as male accoucheurs gained credentialing and pay.
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