Meanings
- uncountableVoluntary control of the number of children conceived, especially by the planned use of contraception.
1 more example
The latest research, published Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA, analyzed years of health records for thousands of Danish women ages 15 to 49, with an even split between those who started using intrauterine devices that release the hormone levonorgestrel for birth control and those who hadn’t used any type of hormonal contraceptive.
2024 October 17, Deidre McPhillips, “Some IUDs linked to higher rates of breast cancer, but overall risk remains low”, in CNNSynonyms: oligogenics
Synonyms & antonyms
nounVoluntary control of the number of children conceived, especially by the planned use of contraception.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Margaret Sanger coined the term "birth control" in 1914, using it in the July 1914 issue of The Woman Rebel, and was criminally indicted for it in August 1914, under the Comstock Law for obscenity in print.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic تَحْدِيد اَلنَّسْل
- تَحْدِيد اَلنَّسْل (taḥdīd an-nasl)voluntary control of the number of children conceived
Catalan control de la natalitat
- control de la natalitatvoluntary control of the number of children conceived
Chinese Mandarin 節育 /节育, 避孕
- 節育 /节育 (jiéyù)voluntary control of the number of children conceived
- 避孕 (bìyùn)voluntary control of the number of children conceived
- 計劃生育 /计划生育 (jìhuà shēngyù)voluntary control of the number of children conceived
Finnish syntyvyyden säännöstely, ehkäisy
- syntyvyyden säännöstelyvoluntary control of the number of children conceived
- ehkäisyvoluntary control of the number of children conceived
French contrôle des naissances
- contrôle des naissancesvoluntary control of the number of children conceived
German Geburtenkontrolle
- Geburtenkontrollevoluntary control of the number of children conceived
Hindi जनसंख्या-नियंत्रण
- जनसंख्या-नियंत्रण (jansaṅkhyā-niyantraṇ)voluntary control of the number of children conceived
Japanese 産児制限
- 産児制限 (sanji seigen)voluntary control of the number of children conceived
Korean 산아제한
- 산아제한 (sanajehan)voluntary control of the number of children conceived
Polish antykoncepcja
- antykoncepcjavoluntary control of the number of children conceived
Portuguese controle de natalidade
- controle de natalidadevoluntary control of the number of children conceived
Russian контро́ль рожда́емости
- контро́ль рожда́емости (kontrólʹ roždájemosti)voluntary control of the number of children conceived
Spanish control de la natalidad, método anticonceptivo
- control de la natalidadvoluntary control of the number of children conceived
- método anticonceptivovoluntary control of the number of children conceived
Swedish födelsekontroll
- födelsekontrollvoluntary control of the number of children conceived
Tagalog supil-supling, supil sa panganganak
- supil-suplingvoluntary control of the number of children conceived
- supil sa panganganakvoluntary control of the number of children conceived
Welsh atal cenhedlu
- atal cenhedluvoluntary control of the number of children conceived
Cite this entry
birth control. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/birth%20control
“birth control.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/birth%20control. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “birth control,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/birth%20control.
Source: birth control on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.