orphan
pronunciation
How to pronounce orphan in British English:
UK [ˈɔːfn]
How to pronounce orphan in American English:
US [ˈɔːrfn]
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- Noun:
- a child who has lost both parents
- someone or something who lacks support or care or supervision
- the first line of a paragraph that is set as the last line of a page or column
- a young animal without a mother
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- Verb:
- deprive of parents
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- Adjective:
- deprived of parents by death or desertion
Word Origin
- orphan (v.)
- 1814, from orphan (n.). Related: Orphaned; orphaning.
- orphan (n.)
- c. 1300, from Late Latin orphanus "parentless child" (source of Old French orfeno, Italian orfano), from Greek orphanos "orphaned, without parents, fatherless," literally "deprived," from orphos "bereft," from PIE *orbho- "bereft of father," also "deprived of free status," from root *orbh- "to change allegiance, to pass from one status to another" (cognates: Hittite harb- "change allegiance," Latin orbus "bereft," Sanskrit arbhah "weak, child," Armenian orb "orphan," Old Irish orbe "heir," Old Church Slavonic rabu "slave," rabota "servitude" (see robot), Gothic arbja, German erbe, Old English ierfa "heir," Old High German arabeit, German Arbeit "work," Old Frisian arbed, Old English earfoð "hardship, suffering, trouble"). As an adjective from late 15c.
Example
- 1. A christian without a small group is an orphan .
- 2. He made his anti-heroine an orphan .
- 3. Starving and abandoned children were taken from the streets to orphan asylums .
- 4. Lilundu the orphan elephant found a safe place after her mother was killed .
- 5. Keira had a role in this itv adaptation of the dickens orphan classic .