Would you describe an adult whose parents had died as an orphan?

[matahairyy]

Parents had died when they were an adult obviously?
Or is an orphan a child? Terminology wise.

Ah. Voting nonsensical with that OP. ..

Let’s go for an I being unreasonable to think an orphan is a child (generally )

I would tend to think that this would mean a child. I'm 52; thankfully both my parents are still alive but I won't be describing myself as an orphan when they are no longer here.

I would say an orphan is a child.

I wouldn't describe someone whose parents died when they were an adult as 'an orphan', no.

Almost all adults will lose their parents before they die themselves, we don't all become orphans. To me an orphan is a child/under 18, I might stretch out of someone lost both parents at say 19/20 as that's incredibly young to be without parents

I would say an orphan is a child. Why do you ask?

Technically, an adult who has no parents is an orphan.
But, we tend to apply the word to children who have grown up parentless

Is this question really "is an adult calling themselves an orphan being a whingy attention-seeker"?

What has prompted this?

No. But thanks for that. 🙄. It’s in a book. First chapter

I guess you could describe yourself that way while you were grieving (eg "I can't come to terms with being an orphan now ) but it would be unusual to keep using the term when your parents have been dead for years.

A child but have heard adults describe the strange feeling when both parents have passed away as feeling like an orphan.

I've heard adults refer to themselves as becoming orphans when their parents died (while they were adults) and thought it was odd!

I would. I think you need your parents and love them no matter what age you are. I’m late 20s and would feel like an abandoned orphan if my mum left me. I appreciate a child NEEDS their parents but it’s all one big mess of heartbreak. It made me so upset realising that my mum had no parents or grandparents in her forties. Terrible.

I agree orphan is a term generally reserved for children; however losing both parents has a huge impact at any age, particularly if they’ve died before reaching an elderly age and their children are still relatively young. I don’t thing the majority consider losing their parents before their 40’s and I know a good number of people who weren’t ‘orphaned’ until their 60’s.

It’s very saddening to know your parents won’t know your children and that you no longer have any unreserved back up in the world. How often do you see on here people going to their parents houses when they are having relationship or financial difficulties? Lots of people chose not to utilise that a avenue but it’s a very different scenario to not even have it as a last resort.

I have no horse in this race so to speak, I lost one parent as a young teenager and the other became severely disabled around the same age (useless alcoholic anyway) but I have nothing but empathy for those feeling that loss at any age really.

I would always think of an orphan as a child. i never thought of my Grandparents as orphans although I never met my great-grandparents as they all died before I was born and I would find it bizarre if my Dad, who lost both of his parents in his sixties, described himself as an orphan.

By my terms to be an orphan you need to have faced a significant part of your childhood/ formative/ teenage years without parents, so I would say losing both of your parents before the age of around 16.

I think it’s one of those words that points to a missing term in the English language. Ive heard it often from adults grieving their parents and I certainly wouldn’t dispute the sense of shock and dislocation they feel.
It’s usually said with a touch of wry irony, because it’s not quite the right word. It’s not comparable to losing your parents as a child, legally, emotionally or developmentally. But it is something. Do other languages have a word for it?

Pretty sure by definition an orphan is a child whose parents are dead.

My mum describes herself as an orphan. Her parents died when she was in her 50s. I find it a bit weird because to me it means child, but I don't see a problem with it.

My Mum lost both her parents before she was 40, and her gps had died years earlier...she says she felt disconnected without her parents, even though she was married and I was 13.

Conversely, my Dad died 5 years before his Mum, so we had at one stage, my Nan in her 90s, my Mum in her 60s, and me in my 30s, all able to lean on each other.

Most adults lose both parents at some point. An orphan is a child, I agree.

I agree that I would consider an orphan to be a child, although I felt orphaned when my mum died; I was 61. Scaryteacher's description of her mum saying she felt disconnected is just what I experienced.

An Orphan is a child. They were kicked out of Orphanges when 16 (or younger) and told to get on with it. As they were no longer Orphans, but 'Adults'.

A grown adult who has lost their parents is just that, they are not an Orphan.

I'd only call someone an orphan if they were young enough to need a parent to care for them.

According to the definition an orphan is a child whose parents are dead. Having said that, however, in olden times (and some cultures now) it was (and is) often considered rude to refer to an orphaned child being looked after by other family as an orphan - because they had a roof over their heads and access to food / money / support / love.