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Root י־ל־ד: birth / child

Roots Atlas 58 · שֹׁרֶשׁ י ל ד · the birth / child root
י ל ד
y · l · d
everything to do with being born, giving birth, and the child
8 words · 1 root · 3 verb-voices

One event anchors this root: birth. The mother gives birth (לָלֶדֶת), the baby is born (לְהִוָּלֵד), the midwife delivers it (לְיַלֵּד), three binyanim for the three roles around one cradle. From there come the child, the boy and girl, the birth rate, even the birthday (יוֹם הֻלֶּדֶת). The initial י is weak: it drops in some forms and reappears in others. Every word here is verified against pealim, niqqud included.

The verb across the binyanim (voices)

The same root runs through the verb system. Each binyan is a voice: it bends the one idea into active, passive, causative or reciprocal. Tap to hear.

Pa'al
לָלֶדֶתlaledet
simple active, the plain action
to give birth, to beget
Nif'al
לְהִוָּלֵדlehivaled
passive / middle, it happens to the subject
to be born
Pi'el
לְיַלֵּדleyaled
intensive / specialized active
to deliver (a baby), to midwife

A perfect three-way split around one event. The pa'al is the mother's act (to give birth), the nif'al is the passive partner (to be born), and the pi'el is the helper's act (to deliver, what a midwife does). One birth, three points of view, three binyanim.

Words born from the root

Same root letters, different noun moulds (mishkalim). The mould tells you the function: who does it, the act of doing it, or the thing produced.

① The birth: the event

לֵדָה
leda
birth, childbirth, labor
הֻלֶּדֶת
huledet
birth; (in יוֹם הֻלֶּדֶת) birthday

② The child: who is born

יֶלֶד
yeled
boy, male child
קֶטֶל
יַלְדָּה
yalda
girl, female child
קַטְלָה

③ The measure: births counted

יְלוּדָה
yeluda
birth rate, natality
קְטוּלָה

Decode it yourself

Strip the prefixes, suffixes and vowels. Three consonants remain, and the meaning lives there.