# parent

Pronunciation: say "PAIR-uhnt" US /ˈpɛɹ.ənt/, UK /ˈpɛə.ɹənt/

## Noun

1. A father or mother; a person who has given birth to or fathered a child, or who raises a child as their own, including by adoption or fostering.
   - Simple: A mother or father. Someone who has a child or who brings up a child as their own.
   - _A good parent listens as much as they guide._
   - _The foster parents welcomed another child into their home._
3. A company that owns or controls one or more other companies, known as its subsidiaries.
   - Simple: A company that owns and controls other, smaller companies.
   - _The parent reported strong earnings across all its subsidiaries._
   - _When the parent restructured, several divisions were merged._
4. An organism that has directly produced a particular plant or animal as its offspring.
   - Simple: A living thing that a plant or animal comes from.
   - _Each parent contributes half of the offspring's genetic material._
   - _Breeders select the strongest parents to improve the herd._
5. The source or origin from which something else arises or develops.
   - Simple: The thing that something else comes from or grows out of.
   - _Latin is the parent of Spanish, French, Italian, and several other modern languages._
   - _That small workshop was the parent of a global industry._
6. A sponsor, supporter, owner, or protector of a person, group, or cause.
   - Simple: A person or group that supports and protects someone or something.
   - _For decades the institute served as parent to the city's arts scene._
   - _She saw herself as parent and guardian of the old traditions._
7. In a hierarchy, the node or object from which a child or derived object descends.
   - Simple: In computing, an item that other items branch out from.
   - _Each node stores a reference to its parent in the tree._
   - _The widget inherits its size from the parent unless you override it._
8. A third person who has contributed DNA in an IVF procedure to replace faulty genetic material.
   - Simple: A third person who gives DNA in a fertility treatment to fix faulty genes.
   - _The clinic recorded the third parent who provided healthy mitochondrial DNA._
   - _A child born this way carries genetic material from a third parent._
9. The nuclide that undergoes radioactive decay to produce a daughter nuclide.
   - Simple: In physics, an atom that breaks down into a different kind of atom.
   - _Uranium-238 is the parent of a long radioactive decay chain._
   - _By comparing the parent to its daughter, geologists can date rocks._

## Verb

2. To act as a parent by raising and rearing a child.
   - Simple: To raise and take care of a child.
   - _Many couples parent quite differently from how they were raised._
   - _She parents alone and manages remarkably well._

## Noun

10. A relative or kinsman; a member of one's wider family or kin. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A relative or member of one's family.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To attach an object to another object as its child in a hierarchy, so that it inherits the other object's movement or properties.

## Origin

Latin pariō ("I breed, bring forth") had the old participle parēns ("parent"), whose accusative form parentem passed into Anglo-Norman and Middle French as parent. Middle English borrowed it with the same spelling.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/parent (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).