/ ˈmɪdwaɪf; NAmE / noun
( pl. mid·wives / -waɪvz; NAmE /) a person, especially a woman, who is trained to help women give birth to babies
—compare doula
••
WORD ORIGIN
Middle English : probably from the obsolete preposition mid with + wife (in the archaic sense woman ), expressing the sense a woman who is with (the mother) .