stepchildn.
/ˈstɛptʃʌɪld/, U.S. /ˈstɛpˌtʃaɪld/ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > [noun] > orphan
stepchild971
stepbairnc1000
pupilc1384
orphana1450
orphelinc1450
orpheninc1450
orphanera1500
ward1559
orphanet1604
little Orphan Annie1910
war orphan1915
971 Blickl. Hom. 45 Þonne sægde Sanctus Paulus þæt se biscop nære miltsiende wydewum, ne steopcildum, ne nanum Godes þearfan.
c1000 West Saxon Gospels: John (Corpus Cambr.) xiv. 18 Ne læte ic eow steopcild.
a1300 E.E. Psalter xciii. 6 Widow and comeling slogh þai, And stepchildre þai drape al dai.
2.
a. A stepson or stepdaughter.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > [noun] > stepchild
stepchilda1375
stepbairn1535
step1895
a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 131 Þan studied sche stifly, as stepmoderes wol alle, to do dernly a despit to here stepchilderen.
1631 tr. J. A. Comenius Porta Linguarum Reserata lv. §600 A stepfather, & a stepmother, loue not very well their steppe sonnes, or steppe children.
1870 L. H. Morgan Syst. Consanguinity 482 Their children by other wives would be my step-children.
1889 S. Walpole Life Ld. J. Russell I. xiii. 340 Lord John went down with his children and step~children to Buckhurst.
b. transferred and figurative.
ΚΠ
1407–10 T. Hoccleve Min. Poems (1892) 58 Let me no step~chyld been for I am he That hope haue in yow, confort & gladnesse.
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail xlviii. l. 385 Whiles that ȝe to God diden take, thanne was he to ȝow(re) fadyr ful kynde..and sethen that stepchildren that ȝe ben, he hath þow forȝeten ful Clen.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth V. 266 It parts good friends, the step-child [sc. the young cuckoo] seldom offering any violence to its nurse.
1911 Q. Rev. Jan. 150 The navy has been the step-child of both parliaments.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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