orphan

Signification

Noun

1. A person, especially a minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died.
2. A person, especially a minor, whose parents have permanently abandoned them.
3. A young animal with no mother.
4. Anything that is unsupported, as by its source, provider or caretaker, by reason of the supporter's demise or decision to abandon.
5. A single line of type, beginning a paragraph, at the bottom of a column or page.
6. Any unreferenced object.

Adj

1. Deprived of parents (also orphaned).
2. Remaining after the removal of some form of support.

Verb

1. To deprive of parents (used almost exclusively in the passive)
2. To make unavailable, as by removing the last remaining pointer or reference to.

Prononcé comme (IPA)

/ˈɔːfən/

Étymologie

Late Middle English, from Late Latin orphanus, from Ancient Greek ὀρφανός (orphanós, “without parents, fatherless”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos.
Cognate with Sanskrit अर्भ (árbha), Latin orbus (“orphaned”), Old High German erbi, arbi (German Erbe (“heir”)), Old English ierfa (“heir”). More at erf.