orphan

Meaning

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.

Concepts

orphan

poor

parentless

motherless

fatherless

widower

poor person

survivor

single

widow

orphanhood

orphanage

fatherless girl

fatherless boy

parentless child

homeless

street child

waif

adopted child

foster child

ward

forlorn

helpless

orphan child

deserted

lorn

abandoned

alone

lonely

bachelor

poor fellow

abandoned person

beloved child

child

orphaned

pitiful

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɔːfən/

Etymology

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.