noun
Freq #39904
Meanings
-
1
noun
an abandoned infant or child whose parents are unknown
The eighteenth-century hospital was established to shelter foundlings and other abandoned children.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
Word family
Forms
foundlings
Etymology
From Middle English fyndling and foundling, formed from find or found + the noun-forming suffix -ling: literally, a child who has been found after being abandoned.