ENGLISH
REFERENCE

orphan

n. · v. · adj.
US //ˈɔɹfən// UK //ˈɔːfən// or·phan
  1. 1 a child without parents (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    a child whose parents have both died.

    a person, typically a minor, whose parents are deceased.

    Example

    The young boy became an orphan after his parents died in a car accident.

    Example

    The charity provides essential support and education for orphans who have lost their families to the ongoing conflict in the region.

  2. 2 typography (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical

    the first line of a new paragraph that appears alone at the bottom of a page.

    a single line of type at the beginning of a paragraph that is isolated at the bottom of a printed column or page.

    Example

    The editor asked me to fix the orphan at the bottom of page five.

    Example

    Professional typesetting software includes automated features to prevent orphans and widows from disrupting the visual flow of the text.

    Usage

    Often paired with the term 'widow' in the context of page layout.
  3. 3 computing (n.)
    C1 Advanced Technical Computing

    a piece of data or a computer process that has no connection to a main program or user.

    an object, file, or process that remains in a system after its parent process has terminated or its reference has been deleted.

    Example

    The system administrator had to clear out several orphan files to save space.

    Example

    Orphan processes can consume significant system resources if the operating system fails to terminate them after the main application crashes.

  4. 4 to lose parents (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    to cause someone to become an orphan.

    to deprive a child of their parents, typically through death.

    Example

    The war orphaned thousands of children in just a few months.

    Example

    The sudden epidemic orphaned many infants, placing an immense strain on the local community's ability to provide foster care.

    Usage

    Almost exclusively used in the passive voice ('was orphaned').

  5. 5 without support (adj.)
    C1 Advanced Formal

    describing something that has been left alone or has no support.

    deprived of parents or, figuratively, left without a source of support or a provider.

    Example

    The orphan technology was no longer supported by the original company.

    Example

    The project became an orphan initiative after the primary sponsor withdrew funding during the second quarter.
Origin

Late Middle English, from Late Latin orphanus, from Ancient Greek ὀρφανός (orphanós, “without parents, fatherless”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos. PIE word *h₃órbʰos Cognate with Sanskrit अर्भ (árbha), Latin orbus (“orphaned”), Old High German erbi, arbi (German Erbe (“heir”)), Old English ierfa (“heir”). More at erf.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Last updated June 20, 2026