also: うば · ちうば · まま · ちおも · ちも · にゅうも
Archaic term for a woman employed to breastfeed and care for another's child. In modern contexts, it appears mainly in historical or literary settings.
In the past, wet nurses took care of children in aristocratic households.
この物語には、主人公を育てた乳母が登場する。
In this story, the wet nurse who raised the protagonist appears.
Standard kanji spelling for the common reading うば.
On'yomi reading; less common than うば.
Alternate reading; rare.
Gikun reading; archaic or dialectal.
Rare reading.
Rare reading.
Rare reading.
The kanji 乳 (milk) and 母 (mother) directly convey the meaning. The common reading うば is a kun'yomi-based reading, while にゅうぼ is the on'yomi. The historical derivation of the less common readings is uncertain.