orphan
/ˈɔːfən/ · noun
Meaning
- A person, especially a minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died.
- A person, especially a minor, whose parents have permanently abandoned them.
- A young animal with no mother.
- Anything that is unsupported, as by its source, provider or caretaker, by reason of the supporter's demise or decision to abandon.
- A single line of type, beginning a paragraph, at the bottom of a column or page.
- Any unreferenced object.
- To deprive of parents (used almost exclusively in the passive)
- To make unavailable, as by removing the last remaining pointer or reference to.
- Deprived of parents (also orphaned).
- (by extension) Remaining after the removal of some form of support.
Etymology / origin
No prose etymology has been added yet.
No ancestor words have been linked yet.
Related words
Descendant words
No descendant words have been linked yet.