What does "godmother" mean?

A woman present at the christening of a baby who promises to help raise the child in a Christian manner; a female godparent who sponsors the baptism of a child.

What is a synonym for "godmother"?

Common synonyms include: co mother, co-mother, cummer, cummer, godma.

Godmother

//ˈɡɒdmʌðə// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A woman present at the christening of a baby who promises to help raise the child in a Christian manner; a female godparent who sponsors the baptism of a child.
2
any woman who serves as a sponsor for a child at baptism wordnet

Verb

1
To act as godmother to. transitive
"The servants took to her – as they say – she godmothered three Susans during her rule, the coachman's, the gardener's and the Up Hill gamekeeper's."

Synonyms

All synonyms

co mother co-mother cummer cummer godma

Example

More examples

"The godmother baked a delicious cake."

Etymology

From Middle English godmoder, from Old English godmōdor (“godmother”), equivalent to god- + mother. Cognate with Old High German gotmuoter (“godmother”), Old Norse guðmóðir (“godmother”), Icelandic guðmóður (“godmother”), Swedish gudmoder (“godmother”), Danish gudmor (“godmother”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.