# parent

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpɛəɹənt/ · frequency rank #2,636

## Definitions
1. A person who raises a child (which they have made, adopted, fostered, taken as their own, etc.).
2. A person who has had a baby; this person in relation to their child or children.
3. A surrogate parent.
4. A third person who has provided DNA samples in an IVF procedure in order to alter faulty genetic material.
5. A relative.
6. The source or origin of something.
7. An organism from which a plant or animal is immediately biologically descended.
8. Sponsor, supporter, owner, protector.
9. Sponsor, supporter, owner, protector.
10. The object from which a child or derived object is descended; a node superior to another node.
11. The nuclide that decays into a daughter nuclide.

## Etymology
From Middle English parent, borrowed from Anglo-Norman parent, Middle French parent, from Latin parentem, accusative of parēns (“parent”), present participle of pariō (“I breed, bring forth”).

## Easily confused with
- **part** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-part)
- **print** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-print)
- **patent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-patent)
- **potent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-potent)
- **parrot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-parrot)
- **purest** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-purest)
- **parents** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-parents)
- **percent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-percent)
- **patient** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-patient)
- **payment** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-payment)
- **parental** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/parent-vs-parental)
- **pant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pant-vs-parent)
- **pare** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pare-vs-parent)
- **paint** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/paint-vs-parent)
- **pared** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pared-vs-parent)
- **Paget** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/paget-vs-parent)
- **pageant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pageant-vs-parent)

## Common misspellings (9)
`aprent`, `paernt`, `parennt`, `parentt`, `paretn`, `parnet`, `parrent`, `pparent`, `praent`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/parent