• adj. 母親的；母性的；母系的；母體遺傳的

來(lái)自拉丁語(yǔ)maturnus,母親的，來(lái)自mater,母親，詞源同mother.

maternal

maternal: [15] Maternal and maternity [17] are the central English representatives of the Romance-language branch of the great Indo- European ‘mother’ word-family. Both go back to Latin māter ‘mother’ (source of French mère and Italian and Spanish madre), whose derived adjective māternus reached English via Old French maternel. Other English words that come ultimately from māter include material and matter, matrix [16] (from which also come madrigal and matriculate [16], etymologically ‘enter on a matrix or list’), and matrimony [14].
=> mother

maternal (adj.)

late 15c., from Old French maternel (14c.), from Vulgar Latin *maternalis, from Latin maternus "maternal, of a mother," from mater "mother" (see mother (n.1)).

1. I didn't have as strong a maternal instinct as some other mothers.

我不像別的母親那樣有那么強(qiáng)烈的母性本能。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

2. She had little maternal instinct.

她缺乏母性。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

3. Her feelings towards him were almost maternal.

她對(duì)他的感情是近乎母親般的。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

4. Her maternal grandfather was Mayor of Karachi.

她的外公是卡拉奇市的市長(zhǎng)。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

5. I'm not very maternal.

我不太像個(gè)母親。

來(lái)自《權(quán)威詞典》