foundling

English

Etymology

From Middle English foundlyng, fondeyng, variants of Middle English fyndling, fyndlyng. By surface analysis, found +‎ -ling.

Pronunciation

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• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

foundling (plural foundlings)

1. An abandoned child, left by its parent(s), often a baby left at a convent or similar safe place.

   foundling hospital

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:
   • 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations:

     In foundling hospitals, and among the children brought up by parish charities, the mortality is still greater than among those of the common people.

   • 1794, Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason (Part I):

     Moses was a foundling; Jesus Christ was born in a stable; and Mahomet was a mule driver.

   • 1960 June 13, Walt Kelly, “The Confoundling”, in Pogo, comic strip, published 1974, →ISBN, page 342:

     [Owl:] YOU HEARD THAT FREMOUNT IS REALLY A^[sic] ANT LION, MR. CONGERSMAN?
     [Frog:] IT'S A SAD BLOW TO THE PARTY JUST AT A TIME WHEN US OWLS MUST STICK TOGETHER. WORST PART IS, MRS. WEEVIL SAYS HER SISTER-AN'-LAW FOUND THE CANDIDATE IN A BOX OF POPCORN.
     [Owl:] AIN'T IT WORSE TO BE A CANNIBAL THAN A FOUNDLING?
     [Frog:] WE CAN SAY HE'S CHANGED HIS HABITS! BUT A FAMILY TREE LOOKS BAD SPROUTIN' OUT OF POPCORN⋯

Derived terms

• foundling wheel
• foundlinghood

Translations

abandoned child, left by its parent

Arabic: لَقِيط m (laqīṭ), مَلْقُوط (malqūṭ) Gulf Arabic: لقيط m (laqīṭ) Armenian: ընկեցիկ (hy) (ənkecʻik) Azerbaijani: tapdıq Bulgarian: подхвърлено дете n (podhvǎrleno dete) Czech: nalezenec (cs) m Danish: hittebarn (da) n Dutch: vondeling (nl) m Finnish: löytölapsi (fi) French: enfant trouvé (fr) m German: Findelkind (de) n Greek: έκθετο n (éktheto) Hungarian: lelenc (hu), talált gyermek Italian: trovatello m Macedonian: најденче n (najdenče) Norwegian: Nynorsk: funnebarn, finning Polish: znajda (pl) f Portuguese: exposto (pt) m, abandonado (pt) m, enjeitado (pt) m Russian: найдёныш (ru) m (najdjónyš), подки́дыш (ru) m (podkídyš) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: на̀хоче n, на̀ход m, находник m, нахоткиња f Roman: nàhoče (sh) n, nàhod (sh) m, nahodnik m, nahotkinja f Slovak: nájdenec m Spanish: expósito (es) m (dated) Swedish: hittebarn (sv) n Turkish: Ottoman Turkish: بولنمش چوجق (bulunmuş çocuk), متروك چوجق (metruk çocuk), لقیطه (lakita) Ukrainian: знaйдa f (znajda) Vietnamese: trẻ em bị bỏ rơi Welsh: plentyn cael m

See also

• changeling
• oblate

Anagrams

• unfolding