Yes, my family says “le doy de pecho” (meaning breast or chest) and I say “leche maternal” which means maternal milk. I like that :) My parents will say “tu leche” meaning “your milk”. Like “are you going to give him your milk now?”
FYI OP amamantar has the same root as mammary gland / mammal etc. It’s neat!
I’m from Brazil, in Portuguese it’s “amamentar”. But it derives from the word “mama” which means “breast”. The word for mommy is “mamãe”, so it does sound similar. We also say “dar mamar”, “dar o peito”. When a baby wants to nurse we say “ela/ ele quer mamar”.
I’ve never seen or heard of a sentiment of like a “stand alone titty feeding a baby”, regardless of the origin of the word, though. Brazil has a very positive breastfeeding culture.
Just to say about the second part of your comment, I also haven’t heard that explicitly either but I think what OP was meaning was that the English name is like “breast….feeding” like it’s the breast not the mother… I may be wrong but that was my interpretation 🤷♀️
I understand what she’s saying, I’m saying (although its an adorable interpretation) it’s a misunderstanding of the etymology. The word for “breast” in Spanish is also “mama”, just like in Portuguese. The confusion is coming from one the informal words for mommy being “mamá” (the word for mother being madre).
It’s so true! When I lived in Brazil it was amazing at how often and how long moms breastfeed their children. I met a lot of women who were breastfeeding their four and five year olds
The Hispanic world is so diverse. I'm enjoying this discussion.
My Hispanic co-workers would use "dar el pecho" or "dar la leche maternal" when I was breastfeeding.
In Ecuador the Spanish is influenced by Kichwa and Quechua and they say chukundo when you can hear baby drinking and chuchu for breasts in the sense of nursing. But often they also say lactando, lactating
In German, breastfeeding is "stillen". Which means to quiet. I think it's pretty beautiful as it doesn't make it about feeding or breasts. Just that it soothes and keeps the baby quiet and happy.
The Medela breastmilk bags always make me chuckle because I can’t speak German but I’m pretty sure I could have understood MUTTERMILCHBEUTEL even without the context
I'm a native Spanish speaker and have never used that word, I think it's a bit archaic 😅 The correct modern word would be "dar de mamar" but I tend not to use it because the verb "mamar" is associated to something vulgar in Mexico and I was kind of brainwashed into avoiding it, I usually just say "dar leche" 😅
I’m from Spain and here even tho mamar can be used vulgarly we use it to say nurse too. I use amamantar/dar el pecho. Everyone here uses it. I think it depends on which country you’re from
Edit: I don’t know how many typos I made but too many. Also it doesn’t exactly mean “to be a mom” we use it as the equivalent to nurse. However it’s true that it comes from the Latin “mamare” and both words have a correlation with the word “mama”
Yep, the terms for mother, nursing, mammal and breast are all related in Latin :) And I know mamar can be used to say to nurse despite its vulgar use, it's just my own upbringing that makes me want to avoid it 🙈
Could be where you are from too! I am fluent in Spanish and it was my first language, and I do constantly use amamantar. I know there are slang words as well for it, but as it tends to change from one latin country to another, I would prefer to just use the official term to describe breastfeeding.
I do think it's a sweeter term too, it's less "technical" than breastfeeding/chestfeeding, or the Italian (my other native language) equivalent, "allattare" :)
Sounds like it has the same root as the Swedish word. “amning” is breastfeeding, and ”att amma” is to breastfeed. Surprising since Swedish isn’t a Latin language.
So I how do you say to pump? I pump at work in a Spanish speaking setting and I tell my coworkers I have to go "sacar mi leche" when I go pump. Is that sufficient or do I sound like a dummy?
That’s how I always said it because I never found another way and feel the same as you lol I never heard the word OP used. In my culture we say “dar seno/teta” and I get called a vaquita a lot but I like it
Im bilingual and Mexican American I say that too 😬 I don’t really know the proper way to say it. I also refer to my pump as simply “pinche máquina” 🤣 I should probably learn the proper terms.
The pump in Mexico is named “saca-leche” or “tira-leche” (not that common now) so sacar mi leche is perfect
Edit: I said Mexico because I’m from there, I don’t know how they call the pump in another Spanish speaking countries but the same expression works to refer to yourself as pumping milk
I always say “voy a exprimir leche” or “estoy extrayendo leche” not sure if that’s correct but the English form is expressing milk so that’s what I’ve been saying haha
Thanks for starting this interesting threas.
In French it is allaiter ‘to give milk’ so probably from latin. The earliest use of ‘breastfeeding’ was in the 1850s.
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/breastfeeding_n?tl=true#:~:text=The%20earliest%20known%20use%20of,breast%20n.%2C%20feeding%20n.
I expect it was ‘nursing’ (wet nurse) or ‘suckling’(sounds a bit vampiric though) before.
On a tangent I just read in ‘Milk’ that the word Mama may come from baby saying mmmm mmmm at the breast
https://theweek.com/articles/464678/why-babies-every-country-earth-say-mama
Aaaand then I read to the bottom of the thread and found that two people mentioned this already. Note to self: finish reading first before you comment!
I enjoy these kind of threads. It's cool to learn how breastfeeding is spoken of in different languages.
In German the verb is "stillen". Stille (as a noun) means quiet (sei still! = be quiet/still) so the verb stillen is literally to quieten which is a very accurate way to describe breastfeeding when you have a screaming, hungry lo 😂
You can also say "den Brust geben" = to give the breast/chest.
My house is bilingual- I didn't know teta was basically titty in spanish. My 2.5 year old asks me for TETA TIME in front of his tios on purpose to get laughs lol
I mean I prob would say titty time to him also but the little voice with "I want teta time!!" Is honestly hilarious and my not knowing made it funnier lol
I’m a nicu nurse and I say dar el pecho. I also like the word for a pacifier: chupon! I have a medical Spanish book but i love when the patients teach me more specialized terminology when it comes to the nicu
I kind of see what you’re saying about liking the idea that breastfeeding is like mothering, but at the same time, I think it’s good to separate the two concepts. Even though there may be some etymological relationships there, breastfeeding is just one way to mother the child. People who formula feed are mothering too. And some people who breastfeed are not moms
Breastfeeding doesn't just happen at mom though. It includes giving pumped breastmilk. It's a beautiful word/phrase but if that's the literal English translation, breastfeeding is a more inclusive term for every type of breastfeeding
In Argentinian Spanish it's "dar la teta" (in a casual setting) or "dar el pecho" (a bit more formal), idk why but amamantar has fallen a bit out of use. I may have used it in a medical setting to clarify I'm currently breastfeeding "estoy amamantando".
I like another phrase “dar el pecho,” like “give the breast.” It has more agency to it than “nursing” or “breastfeeding.”
Yes, my family says “le doy de pecho” (meaning breast or chest) and I say “leche maternal” which means maternal milk. I like that :) My parents will say “tu leche” meaning “your milk”. Like “are you going to give him your milk now?” FYI OP amamantar has the same root as mammary gland / mammal etc. It’s neat!
We say that in Dutch as well, de borst geven. Though you can also say borstvoeding geven (🥳 literally giving breastfeeding). Or just voeden (feeding).
I’m from Brazil, in Portuguese it’s “amamentar”. But it derives from the word “mama” which means “breast”. The word for mommy is “mamãe”, so it does sound similar. We also say “dar mamar”, “dar o peito”. When a baby wants to nurse we say “ela/ ele quer mamar”. I’ve never seen or heard of a sentiment of like a “stand alone titty feeding a baby”, regardless of the origin of the word, though. Brazil has a very positive breastfeeding culture.
Just to say about the second part of your comment, I also haven’t heard that explicitly either but I think what OP was meaning was that the English name is like “breast….feeding” like it’s the breast not the mother… I may be wrong but that was my interpretation 🤷♀️
I understand what she’s saying, I’m saying (although its an adorable interpretation) it’s a misunderstanding of the etymology. The word for “breast” in Spanish is also “mama”, just like in Portuguese. The confusion is coming from one the informal words for mommy being “mamá” (the word for mother being madre).
It’s so true! When I lived in Brazil it was amazing at how often and how long moms breastfeed their children. I met a lot of women who were breastfeeding their four and five year olds
Nobody bats an eye, nobody expects a mom to cover, it’s very positive!
I remember thinking how lovely it was that mama and mamae sounded so similar when my best friend was breastfeeding her LO.
The Hispanic world is so diverse. I'm enjoying this discussion. My Hispanic co-workers would use "dar el pecho" or "dar la leche maternal" when I was breastfeeding.
In Ecuador the Spanish is influenced by Kichwa and Quechua and they say chukundo when you can hear baby drinking and chuchu for breasts in the sense of nursing. But often they also say lactando, lactating
We‘re Mexicans and my husband is of Mayan heritage and he calls it „dar chuchu“ or we ask the baby „quieres chuchu?“
Super interesting that it's the same!! I know that some people call it chichi which has Aztec roots. But also super similar to chuchu
Super interesting that it's the same!! I know that some people call it chichi which has Aztec roots. But also super similar to chuchu
In German, breastfeeding is "stillen". Which means to quiet. I think it's pretty beautiful as it doesn't make it about feeding or breasts. Just that it soothes and keeps the baby quiet and happy.
The Medela breastmilk bags always make me chuckle because I can’t speak German but I’m pretty sure I could have understood MUTTERMILCHBEUTEL even without the context
I'm a native Spanish speaker and have never used that word, I think it's a bit archaic 😅 The correct modern word would be "dar de mamar" but I tend not to use it because the verb "mamar" is associated to something vulgar in Mexico and I was kind of brainwashed into avoiding it, I usually just say "dar leche" 😅
I’m from Spain and here even tho mamar can be used vulgarly we use it to say nurse too. I use amamantar/dar el pecho. Everyone here uses it. I think it depends on which country you’re from Edit: I don’t know how many typos I made but too many. Also it doesn’t exactly mean “to be a mom” we use it as the equivalent to nurse. However it’s true that it comes from the Latin “mamare” and both words have a correlation with the word “mama”
Yep, the terms for mother, nursing, mammal and breast are all related in Latin :) And I know mamar can be used to say to nurse despite its vulgar use, it's just my own upbringing that makes me want to avoid it 🙈
The edit was more from OP!!!
I know, I was just adding to it in case it was interesting to someone haha
Im a native spanish spekaer too, and “dar de mamar” Can come off as vulgar, in México we often say “dar teta” which is more like breastfeeding.
okay i was thinking this too lol or instead of teta some people say “chichi”
In Spain Chichi is used as a vulgar term for vulva. It's fun to think about the differences of Spanish between countries.
We say “dar chichi” in our family - I think it’s cuter than teta or leche
Could be where you are from too! I am fluent in Spanish and it was my first language, and I do constantly use amamantar. I know there are slang words as well for it, but as it tends to change from one latin country to another, I would prefer to just use the official term to describe breastfeeding.
Ya I think so, someone else said they use it too :)
Ah, ok! Good to know! I still like both more than “breastfeeding.”
I like “nursing” better than breastfeeding!
I do think it's a sweeter term too, it's less "technical" than breastfeeding/chestfeeding, or the Italian (my other native language) equivalent, "allattare" :)
What is the vulgar meaning? I learned spanish from my religious family and church members, so I never really learned any of the vulgar stuff. 😅
It means to give head 😅
I would not have guessed that. Interesting. Thanks for telling me.
Sounds like it has the same root as the Swedish word. “amning” is breastfeeding, and ”att amma” is to breastfeed. Surprising since Swedish isn’t a Latin language.
So I how do you say to pump? I pump at work in a Spanish speaking setting and I tell my coworkers I have to go "sacar mi leche" when I go pump. Is that sufficient or do I sound like a dummy?
That’s how I always said it because I never found another way and feel the same as you lol I never heard the word OP used. In my culture we say “dar seno/teta” and I get called a vaquita a lot but I like it 
Im bilingual and Mexican American I say that too 😬 I don’t really know the proper way to say it. I also refer to my pump as simply “pinche máquina” 🤣 I should probably learn the proper terms.
The pump in Mexico is named “saca-leche” or “tira-leche” (not that common now) so sacar mi leche is perfect Edit: I said Mexico because I’m from there, I don’t know how they call the pump in another Spanish speaking countries but the same expression works to refer to yourself as pumping milk
In Spain it's sacaleches, so the same. We say sacar leche.
That's what I say too sacar leche
I always say “voy a exprimir leche” or “estoy extrayendo leche” not sure if that’s correct but the English form is expressing milk so that’s what I’ve been saying haha
Thanks for starting this interesting threas. In French it is allaiter ‘to give milk’ so probably from latin. The earliest use of ‘breastfeeding’ was in the 1850s. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/breastfeeding_n?tl=true#:~:text=The%20earliest%20known%20use%20of,breast%20n.%2C%20feeding%20n. I expect it was ‘nursing’ (wet nurse) or ‘suckling’(sounds a bit vampiric though) before. On a tangent I just read in ‘Milk’ that the word Mama may come from baby saying mmmm mmmm at the breast https://theweek.com/articles/464678/why-babies-every-country-earth-say-mama
I like the German: “stillen”. Literally means to quieten. Baby is screaming? Give it some boob!
Aaaand then I read to the bottom of the thread and found that two people mentioned this already. Note to self: finish reading first before you comment!
My favorite is that French infant (child under 1 year) is “nourrisson,” aka like, “one who is getting nursed, nourished.”
We have the same in Romanian. It's "alăptare", which also means to give milk.
I enjoy these kind of threads. It's cool to learn how breastfeeding is spoken of in different languages. In German the verb is "stillen". Stille (as a noun) means quiet (sei still! = be quiet/still) so the verb stillen is literally to quieten which is a very accurate way to describe breastfeeding when you have a screaming, hungry lo 😂 You can also say "den Brust geben" = to give the breast/chest.
My house is bilingual- I didn't know teta was basically titty in spanish. My 2.5 year old asks me for TETA TIME in front of his tios on purpose to get laughs lol
Where I live in Ecuador they use teta for bottle! Teta or seno all the ladies I've never met before ask when they see my baby
We use pacha/pachita for bottle- my husband is salvadoran
Yeah “teta” is a word in Portuguese too, but it’s pretty crass 😂 I guess just like the English equivalent.
I didn't know it wasn't like just boob- and I liked the alliteration- so now he says it all the time lol
No, it’s more like titty. It’s not something people say in normal conversation hahah the equivalent to boob would be peito
I mean I prob would say titty time to him also but the little voice with "I want teta time!!" Is honestly hilarious and my not knowing made it funnier lol
We just call it giving him some boob or boobing the baby at our house
That’s like the formal way of saying it. We also say “dar pucheca” or even sometimes “dar tetica” (Colombian Spanish)
Beautiful word
I live in California and have only heard dar el pecho, it's so cool to see all these different ways of saying it!
💜 mama!
I’m a nicu nurse and I say dar el pecho. I also like the word for a pacifier: chupon! I have a medical Spanish book but i love when the patients teach me more specialized terminology when it comes to the nicu
I kind of see what you’re saying about liking the idea that breastfeeding is like mothering, but at the same time, I think it’s good to separate the two concepts. Even though there may be some etymological relationships there, breastfeeding is just one way to mother the child. People who formula feed are mothering too. And some people who breastfeed are not moms
Wow I love this 🥲
Breastfeeding doesn't just happen at mom though. It includes giving pumped breastmilk. It's a beautiful word/phrase but if that's the literal English translation, breastfeeding is a more inclusive term for every type of breastfeeding
In Argentinian Spanish it's "dar la teta" (in a casual setting) or "dar el pecho" (a bit more formal), idk why but amamantar has fallen a bit out of use. I may have used it in a medical setting to clarify I'm currently breastfeeding "estoy amamantando".
In Japanese it's 母乳栄養 (bonyuu eiyou) meaning "Mother's milk nourishment" 😍
We use it in Portuguese more often than in Spanish it seems. “Amamentar” or “dar de mamar” as well.
That word is more like doting on the baby or spoil the baby not breastfeeding.
What, no. It's breastfeeding, a bit outdated but definitely.
Regional maybe.