birther
birther Lexical Profile
birther Game Scores & Validity
• noun
American A person who doubts the legitimacy of a political candidate's or officeholder's citizenship or place of birth, originally and specifically regarding Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility to serve as President of the United States.
"Despite the release of the official long-form birth certificate, many committed birthers continued to question the president's place of birth."
A person or animal that gives birth, especially in a specified manner or setting.
"The midwifery clinic offers specialized prenatal classes for first-time home birthers."
Word Nuance & Usage
In political contexts, 'birther' is frequently used with pejorative or dismissive connotations to characterize proponents of the conspiracy theory, whereas in healthcare contexts it serves as an inclusive, gender-neutral term for a person giving birth.
• Rhymes for birther
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in its political sense in 2008 from 'birth' (short for 'birth certificate') and the agentive suffix '-er', modeled after 'truther' (a proponent of 9/11 conspiracy theories).
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.