Word of the Day

Thursday, October 28, 2004

foundling

\FOWND-ling\ , noun;

A deserted or abandoned infant; a child found without a parent or caretaker.

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Quotes:

Some of her desires were more altruistic: she wanted to "send Phyllis to school for a year, take Auntie May for a winter in the Isle of Pines," and "raise foundlings."

-- Tim Page, Dawn Powell: A Biography

Then one day her daughter returns home with a foundling, an abandoned baby boy.

-- Charles R. Larson, Washington Post, September 26, 1999

Origin:

Foundling comes from Old English foundling, fundling, from finden, "to find" + the suffix -ling.