Origin: Latin prefix pre-
Pregnancy has 2 different meanings across 1 category:
The condition of being pregnant.
"After her positive test, Sarah immediately started taking prenatal vitamins to support her pregnancy."
In plain English: Pregnancy is when a woman carries a baby growing inside her body.
"She told her friends about her pregnancy after she had the ultrasound."
Usage: Pregnancy refers to the state in which a woman carries a developing fetus inside her uterus. Use this term to describe the entire duration from conception until birth, rather than referring to the baby itself or the act of becoming pregnant.
The word pregnancy comes from combining the adjective pregnant with the suffix -cy to form a noun. It entered English as a way to describe the state of being pregnant without needing to repeat the full phrase "the condition of being pregnant."