foundling
noun
foundling is spelled F-O-U-N-D-L-I-N-G: 9 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 58,714th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, foundling means “An abandoned child, left by its parent(s), often a baby left at a convent or similar safe place” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of foundling is foundlings.
How many letters and syllables are in foundling?
| Letters | 9: F-O-U-N-D-L-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 58,714th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is foundling?
Foundling appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 58,714th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce foundling?
Foundling has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-foundling.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of foundling
- foundlings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does foundling mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
An abandoned child, left by its parent(s), often a baby left at a convent or similar safe place.
foundling hospital
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Foundling in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense abandoned child, left by its parent:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | enfant trouvé |
| German | Findelkind |
| Portuguese | exposto, abandonado, enjeitado |
| Spanish | expósito |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does foundling come from?
From Middle English foundlyng, fondeyng, variants of Middle English fyndling, fyndlyng. By surface analysis, found + -ling.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).