couvade

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: cou=vade

CIDE DICTIONARY

couvade, n. [F., fr. couver. See Covey.].

 A custom, among certain barbarous tribes, that when a woman gives birth to a child her husband takes to his bed, as if ill.  [1913 Webster]
"The world-wide custom of the couvade, where at childbirth the husband undergoes medical treatment, in many cases being put to bed for days."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

couvade, n. a custom by which a father appears to undergo labour and childbirth when his child is being born.

Etymology

F f. couver hatch f. L cubare lie down