stepchildren
- 1Plural of stepchild.
He treated his stepchildren exactly as he treated his own kids.
The will divided the estate equally among her stepchildren and her biological daughter.
Note
A compound that takes its plural from its second half: stepchildren, never stepchilds, because child carries its irregular plural children into every compound built on it. The Middle English word was remodeled on child, replacing Old English stēopċild and its case forms. In older texts the word can mean bereaved children, those who had lost a father or mother. That meaning is now obsolete.
stepchildren is a form of stepchild
stepchild, noun: The child of one's spouse from an earlier relationship. Full entry
- Forms
- stepchildstepchildren plural
- Spelling
- stepchild → stepchildren: irregular plural (no -s)
Use it in a sentence
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Origin
From Middle English stepchildren, reshaped based on "child", and going back to Old English stēopċild. It is simply "step-" plus "children".