Meanings
present singular third person procreates · participle present procreating · participle past procreated · past procreated
- intransitiveTo reproduce.
comparative more procreate · superlative most procreate
- obsoleteProcreated, begotten.
Some of these Kings, dying without procreate Heires.
1632, William Lithgow, The totall discourse of the rare adventures & painefull peregrinations of long nineteen yeares travayles from Scotland to the most famous kingdomes in Europe, Asia and Affrica, IV. 1701 more example
And furthermore, since many inconveniences have fallen, as well within this realm as in others, by reason of marrying within degrees of marriage prohibited by God's laws, that is to say, the son to marry the mother, or the stepmother, the brother the sister, the father his son's daughter, or his daughter's daughter, or the son to marry the daughter of his father procreate and born by his stepmother, or the son to marry his aunt, being his father's or mother's sister, or to marry his uncle's wife, or the father to marry his son's wife, or the brother to marry his brother's wife, or any man to marry his wife's daughter, or his wife's son's daughter, or his wife's daughter's daughter, or his wife's sister; […]
1533–4, First Succession Act (25 Hen. 8. c. 22)
plural procreates
- obsoleteThe produce of money, interest.
If the Paiment be half Yearly or Quarterly […] let the Log. of the Yearly Procreat be multiplied accordingly, by ¹⁄₃ or ¹⁄₂.
1696, Samuel Jeake, Arithmetick Surveighed and Reviewed published, 578
Synonyms & antonyms
verbhave offspring or produce more individuals of a given animal or plant
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinprōcreātus
- Middle Englishprocreat(e)“(construed as past participle) begotten, procreated”
- Englishprocreate
The adjective is first attested in the first part of the 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English, the verb in 1525; inherited from Middle English procreat(e) (“(construed as past participle) begotten, procreated”), borrowed from Latin prōcreātus, perfect passive participle of prōcreō (“to beget”), see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3); by surface analysis, pro- + create. Participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.
More words from Middle English, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan procrear
- procrearto beget
Chinese Mandarin 生育, 生殖
- 生育 (shēngyù)to beget
- 生殖 (shēngzhí)to beget
- 產生 /产生 (chǎnshēng)to beget
Danish avle
- avleto beget
Dutch verwekken
- verwekkento beget
Finnish hedelmöittää, siittää
- hedelmöittääto beget
- siittääto beget
French procréer
- procréerto beget
German zeugen, sich fortpflanzen
- zeugento beget
- sich fortpflanzento beget
- sich vermehrento beget
Italian generare, procreare
- generareto beget
- procreareto beget
Japanese 生む, 生殖する
- 生む (umu)to beget
- 生殖する (seishoku suru)to beget
Latin prōcreō
- prōcreōto beget
Romanian procrea
- procreato beget
Russian производи́ть пото́мство, произвести́ пото́мство
- производи́ть пото́мство (proizvodítʹ potómstvo)to beget
- произвести́ пото́мство (proizvestí potómstvo)to beget
- порожда́ть (poroždátʹ)to beget
- породи́ть (porodítʹ)to beget
- рожа́ть (rožátʹ)to beget
- рожда́ть (roždátʹ)to beget
- роди́ть (rodítʹ)to beget
- производи́ть на свет (proizvodítʹ na svet)to beget
- произвести́ на свет (proizvestí na svet)to beget
Spanish procrear, reproducirse
- procrearto beget
- reproducirseto beget
Swedish föröka sig, fortplanta sig
- föröka sigto beget
- fortplanta sigto beget
Cite this entry
procreate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/procreate
“procreate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/procreate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “procreate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/procreate.
Source: procreate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.