Phrase guide

pawternity leave

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /pɔːˈtɜːnɪti ˌliːv/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /pɔˈtɜɹnəti ˌliv/
  • General-American, cot-caught-merger: /pɑ-/
  • General-American: [-ɾi-]

1

noun

Meaning 1

Time off work granted to an employee to take care of a pet, especially a cat or dog.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal, uncountable, usually

Examples

  • He hoped that his pawternity leave could provide him with proper time required to train his new dog.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: furternity leave

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Blend of paw + paternity leave.

Across languages

Translations

2 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: отпуск за домашен любимец (otpusk za domašen ljubimec) — time off work granted to an employee to take care of a pet
  • Finnish: lemmikin hoitovapaa — time off work granted to an employee to take care of a pet