Wiktionary:Word of the day/2021/May 11

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waif n

(British, law, archaic) Often in the form waif and stray, waifs and strays: an article of movable property found of which the owner is not known, such as goods washed up on a beach or thrown away by an absconding thief; such items belong to the Crown, which may grant the right of ownership to them to a lord of a manor. (figuratively) Something found, especially if without an owner; something which comes along, as it were, by chance. A person (especially a child) who is homeless and without means of support; also, a person excluded from society; an outcast. (by extension) A very thin person. (by extension, botany) A plant introduced in a place outside its native range but is not persistently naturalized. [...] (nautical, chiefly whaling, historical) A small flag used as a signal. [...] Something (such as clouds or smoke) carried aloft by the wind. waif v (intransitive) To be cast aside or rejected, and thus become a waif.

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