orphan

OR-fuhn/ˈɔɹfən/UKAW-fuhn/ˈɔːfən/

Pluralorphans

Verborphans, orphaning, orphaned

9 meanings of orphan

Practice

1
nouncountable
A child whose parents are dead or have left them for good.
After the accident, the little girl was an orphan and went to live with her aunt.
The charity runs a home for orphans in the city.
UsageSay left an orphan or orphaned at six.
2
adjective
Left without a mother and father.
The orphan boy lived with his uncle.
The school gave free lunches to all the orphan children in town.
UsageSay an orphan boy, but the boy was orphaned.
Similarparentless
3
lose both parentsverbtransitive
To leave a person or animal with no parents.
She was orphaned at the age of six.
Wars orphan many children every year.
UsageSay orphaned at six or orphaned by war.
4
nounfigurativelycountable
Something that no one supports or looks after anymore, because the people behind it died or gave it up.
When the company closed, its old phone became an orphan with no updates or repairs.
The app became an orphan when its makers stopped updating it.
5
nouncountable
A baby animal that has no mother.
The little foal was an orphan, so the farmer fed it from a bottle.
The wildlife center takes in orphans like baby deer and foxes.
6
adjectivefiguratively
Still there after the support behind it has been taken away.
After the grant ended, the reading club was an orphan project run by two parents.
The city still has orphan bus stops on a route that no longer runs.
UsageSay an orphan project.
Similarabandoned
7
nouncountable
A piece of data or a file in a computer that nothing points to anymore.
The cleanup tool deleted every orphan it found in the database.
Old orphans were filling up the disk, so she removed them.
Note

Less common meanings

8
lone line (printing)nouncountable
The first line of a paragraph left alone at the bottom of a page or column.
The editor moved the text so there was no orphan at the bottom of page four.
Word processors can stop orphans from showing up at the foot of a page.
UsageSay widows and orphans.
Oppositewidow
Note
9
verbtransitive
To leave a file or piece of data that nothing can reach, often by deleting the last link to it.
If you delete that link, you will orphan the photo page.
The update orphaned hundreds of old files on the server.
Note

Practice

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Origin

From a Greek word meaning "without parents".

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

Orphan ultimately comes from a Greek word meaning without parents. en.wiktionary.org