different between orphan vs fatherless

English

Alternative forms

• orphane (obsolete)

Etymology

Late Middle English, from Late Latin orphanus, from Ancient Greek ??????? (orphanós, “without parents, fatherless”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?órb?os.

Cognate with Sanskrit ???? (árbha), Latin orbus (“orphaned”), Old High German erbi, arbi (German Erbe (“heir”)), Old English ierfa (“heir”). More at erf.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???f?n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???f?n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)f?n
• Homophone: often (non-rhotic accents with the lot–cloth split)

Noun

orphan (plural orphans)

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. (figuratively) Anything that is unsupported, as by its source, provider or caretaker, by reason of the supporter's demise or decision to abandon.
5. (typography) A single line of type, beginning a paragraph, at the bottom of a column or page.
6. (computing) Any unreferenced object.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

orphan (not comparable)

1. Deprived of parents (also orphaned).

2. (by extension, figuratively) Remaining after the removal of some form of support.

Translations

Related terms

• orphan drug

Verb

orphan (third-person singular simple present orphans, present participle orphaning, simple past and past participle orphaned)

1. (transitive) To deprive of parents (used almost exclusively in the passive)

2. (transitive, computing) To make unavailable, as by removing the last remaining pointer or reference to.

Conjugation

References

• "orphan" at OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Orphan in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• harp on

English

Etymology

From Middle English faderles, federles, from Old English fæderl?as, from Proto-Germanic *fad?rlausaz, equivalent to father +? -less. Cognate with German vaterlos.

Adjective

fatherless (not comparable)

1. Without a (living) father.
2. (figuratively) Without a known author or inventor.

Hypernyms

• parentless

Coordinate terms

• motherless

Derived terms

• fatherlessness

Translations

See also

• half orphan
• orphan