fatherless

English

Alternative forms

• fatherlesse (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English faderles, federles, from Old English fæderlēas, from Proto-Germanic *fadērlausaz, equivalent to father +‎ -less. Cognate with German vaterlos.

Adjective

fatherless (not comparable)

1. Without a (living) father.
   • 2012 June 17, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Homer’s Triple Bypass” (season 4, episode 11; originally aired 12/17/1992)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     “Homer’s Triple Bypass” has the potential to be the most depressing episode in the history of The Simpsons, if not television as whole. It is, after all, about a 36-year-old husband and father staring down death and the prospect of leaving his wife a young widow and his small children fatherless.

2. (figurative) Without a known author or inventor.

Hypernyms

• parentless

Coordinate terms

• motherless

Derived terms

• fatherlessness

Translations

without a living father

• Danish: faderløs
• Finnish: isätön (fi)
• Georgian: უმამო (umamo)
• German: vaterlos (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἀπάτωρ (apátōr)

• Gujarati: નબાપું (nabāpũ)
• Hungarian: apátlan (hu)
• Ingrian: ätitöin
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: bêbav (ku)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: farløs, farlaus

  Nynorsk: farlaus

• Sanskrit: अनाथ (sa) (anātha)
• Swedish: faderlös (sv)
• Telugu: తండ్రిలేని (te) (taṇḍrilēni)
• Turkish: babasız (tr), yetim (tr)
• Woiwurrung: moorré

See also

• half orphan
• orphan