orphan
or·phan/ˈɔɹfən/noun, adjective, verb
orphan is spelled O-R-P-H-A-N: 6 letters and 2 syllables (or·phan). It appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, orphan means “A person, especially a minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of orphan is orphans.
How many letters and syllables are in orphan?
| Letters | 6: O-R-P-H-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: or·phan |
| In writing | 3.8 times per million words; the 13,321st most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is orphan?
Orphan appears 3.8 times per million words in written English, the 13,321st 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 orphan?
- UK /ˈɔːfən/
- US /ˈɔɹfən/
- /ˈɔːɹfənt/
Orphan has 2 syllables, split or·phan in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-orphan.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of orphan
- orphans plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- orphaning participle, present
- orphaned participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does orphan mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A person, especially a minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died.
- 2
A person, especially a minor, whose parents have permanently abandoned them.
- 3
A young animal with no mother.
- 4
Anything that is unsupported, as by its source, provider or caretaker, by reason of the supporter's demise or decision to abandon.
- 5
A single line of type, beginning a paragraph, at the bottom of a column or page.
- 6
Any unreferenced object.
adjective
- 1
Deprived of parents (also orphaned).
She is an orphan child.
- 2
Remaining after the removal of some form of support.
With its government funding curtailed, the gun registry became an orphan program.
verb
- 1
To deprive of parents (used almost exclusively in the passive).
What do you do when you come across two orphaned polar bear cubs?
- 2
To make unavailable, as by removing the last remaining pointer or reference to.
When you removed that image tag, you orphaned the resized icon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Orphan in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | orphelin, orpheline |
| German | Waise, Vollwaise, Halbwaise, Waisenkind, Waisenknabe, Waisenjunge |
| Portuguese | órfão, órfã , orfanar |
| Spanish | huérfano, huérfana, huacho, huaccho, guacho, guácharo |
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 orphan come from?
Late Middle English, from Late Latin orphanus, from Ancient Greek ὀρφανός (orphanós, “without parents, fatherless”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃órbʰos.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).