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orphanhood

Variant of orphan

noun

a child whose father and mother are dead: sometimes applied to a child who has lost only one parent by death

Origin: LL(Ec) orphanus < Gr orphanos < IE base *orbho-, orphan > L orbus, bereft, Ger erbe, inheritance, arbeit, work, Czech robotnik, serf

adjective

being an orphan
of or for orphans: an orphan home
of a product that is medically valuable but is not produced because it lacks a profitable market, as a drug for a rare disease

transitive verb

to cause to become an orphan: orphaned by the war

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