Orphan vs. Waif — What's the Difference?

An orphan (from the Greek: ορφανός, romanized: orphanós) is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them.In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usually relevant (i.e.

A waif (from the Old French guaif, "stray beast") is a living creature removed, by hardship, loss or other helpless circumstance, from its original surroundings. The most common usage of the word is to designate a homeless, forsaken or orphaned child, or someone whose appearance is evocative of the same.

A child whose parents are dead.

A homeless person, especially a forsaken or orphaned child.

A child who has been deprived of parental care and has not been adopted.

An abandoned young animal.

A young animal that has been prematurely separated from its parents or its mother.

A person, especially a young woman, who is thin or gaunt.

One that lacks support, supervision, or care

Something found and unclaimed, as an object cast up by the sea.

A technology or product that has not been developed or marketed, especially on account of being commercially unprofitable.

See waft.

(Printing) A very short line of type at the bottom of a paragraph, column, or page.

Often in the form waif and stray, waifs and strays: an article of movable property found of which the owner is not known, such as goods washed up on a beach or thrown away by an absconding thief; such items belong to the Crown, which may grant the right of ownership to them to a lord of a manor.

Deprived of parents.

(figuratively)

Intended for orphans

Something found, especially if without an owner; something which comes along, as it were, by chance.

Lacking support, supervision, or care.

A person (especially a child) who is homeless and without means of support; also, a person excluded from society; an outcast.

Being a technology or product that is an orphan.

(by extension) A very thin person.

To deprive (a child or young animal) of a parent or parents.

A plant introduced in a place outside its native range but is not persistently naturalized.

A person, especially a minor, both or (rarely) one of whose parents have died.

A small flag used as a signal.

A person, especially a minor, whose parents have permanently abandoned them.

Something (such as clouds or smoke) carried aloft by the wind.

A young animal with no mother.

(transitive) To cast aside or reject, and thus make a waif.

(figuratively) Anything that is unsupported, as by its source, provider or caretaker, by reason of the supporter's demise or decision to abandon.

Goods found of which the owner is not known; originally, such goods as a pursued thief threw away to prevent being apprehended, which belonged to the king unless the owner made pursuit of the felon, took him, and brought him to justice.

(typography) A single line of type, beginning a paragraph, at the bottom of a column or page.

Hence, anything found, or without an owner; that which comes along, as it were, by chance.

(computing) Any unreferenced object.

A wanderer; a castaway; a stray; a homeless child.

Deprived of parents (also orphaned).

A homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned;

Remaining after the removal of some form of support.

(transitive) To deprive of parents used almost exclusively in the passive

To make unavailable, as by removing the last remaining pointer or reference to.

A child bereaved of both father and mother; sometimes, also, a child who has but one parent living.

Bereaved of parents, or (sometimes) of one parent.

To cause to become an orphan; to deprive of parents.

A child who has lost both parents

Someone or something who lacks support or care or supervision

The first line of a paragraph that is set as the last line of a page or column

A young animal without a mother

Deprive of parents

Deprived of parents by death or desertion