"orphan" in seven languages
Meaningorphan
Spanish
huérfano
/ˈweɾfano/
masc.inherited
French
orphelin
/ɔʁfəlɛ̃/
masc.inherited
An old diminutive (Old French orfenin).
Italian
orfano
/ˈɔrfano/
masc.inherited
Portuguese
órfão
/ˈɔhfɐ̃w/
masc.inherited
Romanian
orfan
/orˈfan/
masc.borrowed · Greek orfanós
Catalan
orfe
/ˈɔrfə/
masc.inherited
English
orphan
/ˈɔɹfən/
from Latin/French · Late Latin orphanus
English → ItalianorphanorfanoCognateSame source — inherited, learned or borrowed. You can recognize it.What English and Italian share
The Latin ancestor
ORPHANUM‘orphan (from Greek orphanós)’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A Greek word adopted by Christian Latin. Spanish treated it as native: the stressed open o broke into ue and took a silent h in front (huérfano, like hueso, huevo).
Sound laws at work
Learn it
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