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What noun can be used instead of the gerund expecting? Users below have suggested expectancy, but neither its definition nor expectation's, mentions pregnancy.

I ask not about synonyms/alternatives (eg pregnant and pregnancy don't apply for both parents).

Google offered this example: He was the first to break the news about your expecting a baby. There, you'll soon be a mother, and yet you keep on complaining that you can't get on with him

Community
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  • Possible duplicate:http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/95316/is-pregnant-couple-proper-terminology –  Oct 29 '14 at 13:21
  • @Josh61 I want to use 'expecting' though, not pregnant? –  Oct 29 '14 at 13:22
  • OED has this noun definition B.1 for *expectant - one who expects an arrival, occurrence, etc.; one who looks to receive something.* I can't see any reason why the expectant couple can't be referred to as the expectants in contexts where it's obvious the "thing expected" is a baby. Nor can I see anything wrong with referring to the couple's state as *expectancy* (of having a baby). – FumbleFingers Oct 29 '14 at 13:32
  • Although there is still some confusion. First you state you are looking for "'expecting' couple", for which Colin Fine gave an answer. Then you give examples with "expecting a baby.child". These two are not interchangeable: He was the first to break the news about your expecting couple makes no sense. So which one do you want? – oerkelens Oct 29 '14 at 13:56
  • @oerkelens I meant to ask about expecting a baby/child, so 'expecting couple' concerns a couple who is expecting a baby/child. I'd like the noun for expecting a baby/child –  Oct 29 '14 at 13:57
  • Also, tee-hee for expecting a velociraptor on the link. Also, congrats on their fertility, their procreative accomplishment, spawning, breeding. – SrJoven Oct 29 '14 at 16:43
  • Assuming that people read that you want indeed specifically a noun-form of the participle "expecting" and that an answer that actually gives you an exact replacement for the bold phrases in your example is considered an non-useful answer, I can only conclude that you are either looking for something that can be looked up easily widely available resources (a noun form of a verb) or it is totally unclear what you are asking. – oerkelens Oct 29 '14 at 17:55
  • Anyway, Upvote, if you think my answer is too much out of the box and indeed not useful, please say so and I will gladly remove it. Please do edit your question making it really clear what you mean to ask, because there is now plenty of evidence that that is not clear yet. Just give the sentence you want to use, and tell us exactly which part you want to replace. If it has to be a noun-form of "expecting", the question is purely simple grammar and off-topic. It does seem to be a common interpretation of your question as it stands, though. – oerkelens Oct 29 '14 at 20:04
  • "Congrats on the addition to your family"? – nollidge Oct 29 '14 at 21:24
  • @oerkelens Thank you again. I apologise for the confusion, but I've once again tried to elucidate my question. Better? –  Oct 31 '14 at 07:45
  • The question looks like you want the noun form for expecting, which can be applied to a couple who are about to be become parents. The related noun forms are expectancy, expectation and expectant. The last one fits. See @Marv Mills answer. – Mari-Lou A Oct 31 '14 at 07:52
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    Sometimes, there just isn't another word which you can simply drop into a sentence. If that's the case (which it seems to be with expecting = pregnant) then to avoid the undesirable word it's necessary to recast the sentence entirely. – Andrew Leach Oct 31 '14 at 08:11

5 Answers5

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The phrase that comes to mind is "parents-to-be".

Colin Fine
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  • or 'future parents' – adj7388 Oct 29 '14 at 13:43
  • It is a pity this one cannot be used in the example sentences as "expecting a baby"... unless you turn it into "I congratulate you on being parents-to-be", which sounds awkward. It is a good expression for the expecting couple though! – oerkelens Oct 29 '14 at 14:01
  • "Parents-to-be" sounds perfect for a couple's first child, but would it also work for parents expecting subsequent births? – Papa Poule Oct 30 '14 at 21:56
  • I think it would still work in that case. – Colin Fine Oct 31 '14 at 00:13
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"Expectant" is a word that is commonly used and applied individually each parent or to the couple together as in:

  • Expectant mother
  • Expectant father
  • Expectant couple
Marv Mills
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  • As a British English speaker, I would happily say "Congratulations to the expectant couple". – DaveP Oct 29 '14 at 18:10
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Congratulations to the new couple on their pregnancy.

SrJoven
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  • That contradicts the (correct) observation from the OP: "'pregnant/pregnancy' can't be used for both parents" – oerkelens Oct 29 '14 at 13:51
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    "we're having a baby" "we're expecting" meh. They likely created the pregnancy together. I admit it's not perfect, but then it's rare that any SWA is going to be. – SrJoven Oct 29 '14 at 13:53
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I don't offer the noun form for "expecting couple" or "expecting a baby" but two suitable alternatives which have been around a while.

Congratulations to the prospective parents!
and
Congratulations to the newly-parents!

Mari-Lou A
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A little bit out-of-the box, but an expression that can be used is

Let me congratulate you guys on your good news!

You could even simply use news, which would make it truly a one-word expression.

Good news, or great news can mean many things for a couple (getting a job, getting a house, getting married) but when they have recently found out they are expecting a baby, it is not uncommon that nothing else is as good news as the news about that pregnancy.

So, yes, the applicability of good news, (or great or fantastic, or even just plain news) depend very much on context, but that is normally not a problem - unless you have a habit of going around congratulating random people on their going to have a baby. In the latter case, do not congratulate random people on occasion of the great news!

As an afterthought, there may even be a zero-word option:

Let me congratulate you guys!

Most expectant parents will immediately assume what it is you are congratulating them with - the same way you do not have to specify to newly-weds right after the ceremony that your congratulations relate to their new marital status!

oerkelens
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    Downvoter, care to explain? An explanation may raise the quality of the answer, an anonymous downvote has no positive effects whatsoever :) – oerkelens Oct 29 '14 at 13:53
  • I didn't downvote, but this doesn't really answer the question, but rephrases it, which seems more comment-like. – SrJoven Oct 29 '14 at 16:39
  • @SrJoven This is a SWR. The OP gives an example sentence, in which I replace the phrase he wants rephrased by a different phrase, as asked. I propose a single-word option as well. How does that not answer the question, and how does rephrasing the example sentence with a different expression ever not answer a question of this kind?? You are basically proposing I'm gathering downvotes for answering an SWR... you may be right as some people seem to hate them :) – oerkelens Oct 29 '14 at 17:46
  • @SrJoven I feel dumb, but I really don't know where you are going with those 'raptors. – oerkelens Oct 29 '14 at 18:11
  • To clarify, I didn't downvote. –  Mar 28 '15 at 16:33