foundling

English

Etymology

From Middle English foundelyng. By surface analysis, found +‎ -ling.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfaʊndlɪŋ/

• 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, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
   • 1776 March 9, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:

     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 (podhvărleno dete)
• Czech: nalezenec (cs) m
• Danish: hittebarn (da) n
• Dutch: vondeling (nl) m
• Finnish: löytölapsi (fi)
• French: enfant trouvé (fr) m
• Galician: achadizo m, expósito m
• German: Findelkind (de) n
• Greek: έκθετο n (éktheto)
• Hungarian: lelenc (hu), talált gyermek
• Italian: trovatello m
• Macedonian: најденче n (najdenče)
• Middle English: fondelyng, foundelyng, fyndlyng
• 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

  Latin: 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