A changeling is a child who was put in the place of another child when they were both babies. In stories changelings were often taken or left by fairies.
[literary]
I have always felt like a changeling born into the wrong family.
changeling in British English
(ˈtʃeɪndʒlɪŋ)
noun
1.
a child believed to have been exchanged by fairies for the parents' true child
2. archaic
a.
an idiot
b.
a fickle or changeable person
changeling in American English
(ˈtʃeindʒlɪŋ)
noun
1.
a child surreptitiously or unintentionally substituted for another
2. (in folklore)
an ugly, stupid, or strange child left by fairies in place of a pretty, charming child
3. Philately
a postage stamp that, by accident or intention, has been chemically changed in color
4. archaic
a.
a renegade or turncoat
b.
a person of very low intelligence
Word origin
[1545–55; change + -ling1]
Examples of 'changeling' in a sentence
changeling
Yet he didn't know if he would love the changeling, the body with its terrifying transformations.
Gee, Maggie LOST CHILDREN (2001)
It was simply the shell, the deceptive outer human form of an aberration, a changeling, a demon.
Peter Robinson AFTERMATH (2001)
As for you, Angel, you are some kind of changeling, and I just wish you'd go away.
Weldon, Fay SPLITTING (2001)
A changeling is said to be deficient of something essential, either memory, or sense, or mercy.
Gregory Maguire CONFESSIONS OF AN UGLY STEPSISTER (2001)