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# paternity

«paternity» in Mova's school dictionary: **Being the father of a child** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (paternity, uncountable)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (formal, law) Being the father of a child. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paternity/#m1)

2) (adult life) «Paternity leave» is time off work that a father gets when his baby is born. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paternity/#m2)

3) (formal) Where an idea or work came from; who started it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paternity/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In adult life dads take paternity leave to look after a new baby; in law a «paternity test» shows who a child's father is, sometimes in custody cases. In stories it may be a secret about who someone's father is. Phrases: «paternity leave», «paternity test», «paternity pay».

### examples

- Dad took two weeks of paternity leave when my sister was born. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paternity/#x1)
- A paternity test can show who a baby's father is. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paternity/#x2)
- His workplace gives good paternity pay. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paternity/#x3)
- The court looked at the question of paternity. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paternity/#x4)
- Mum had maternity leave and Dad had paternity leave. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paternity/#x5)
- In the story, the boy's paternity was a mystery. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paternity/#x6)

### note

Uncountable. Formal; in everyday speech people say «being a dad». Related: paternal (fatherly, or on the father's side: «paternal grandmother»). Opposite on the mother's side: maternity, maternal.

### In the corpora

- [Parents get time off work, called maternity and paternity leave, to look after a new baby.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/19-a-new-baby-in-the-house/5/)
- [Paternity leave is time off work for a new father; in Britain it is usually two weeks.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/adult-life/19-a-new-baby-in-the-house/14/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «paternity» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paternity/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.