# parent

/ˈpɛɹənt/ (US) · /pˈeəɹənt/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/parent
Updated: 2026-08-15

## Senses

### 1. mother or father

noun · CEFR A1

a person who is the mother or father of a child, or someone who raises a child as their own.

For teachers: a person who has produced offspring or who acts as a legal guardian in a child-rearing capacity.

- The school invited every parent to attend the meeting about the new playground.
- Modern family structures often include a stepparent or a legal guardian who fulfills the role of a primary parent without a biological link.

### 2. source or origin

noun · CEFR B2

the thing or organization from which something else comes.

For teachers: the source, origin, or cause from which something is derived; often used for companies that own smaller ones.

- The small local shop is actually owned by a large parent company in London.
- The parent company decided to divest its smaller subsidiaries to focus on its core manufacturing business.

### 3. computing/data

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

in a computer system, an object or folder that contains other items.

For teachers: a node in a data structure that is superior to another node, or an object from which others are derived.

- If you delete the parent folder, all the files inside it will be lost.
- The algorithm traverses the tree by checking each child node before returning to the parent node to continue the search.

### 4. physics/biology

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

the original organism or atom that produces a new one.

For teachers: an organism or nuclide from which another is biologically descended or physically derived through decay.

- The parent plant has red flowers, but the new seeds might grow white ones.
- In radioactive decay, the parent nuclide transforms into a more stable daughter isotope over a specific half-life period.

### 5. to raise a child

verb · CEFR B2

to take care of a child and help them grow up.

For teachers: to perform the duties or functions of a parent; to rear or bring up offspring.

- It can be very difficult to parent a teenager who wants more independence.
- Psychologists often study how different cultures parent their children to understand the development of social norms.

## Examples

- My parents live in a small house near the sea.
- Every child needs a supportive parent or guardian to help them navigate the challenges of growing up.
- In object-oriented programming, a child class inherits properties and methods from its parent class, allowing for efficient code reuse and hierarchical organization.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.