only child

only child

English

Noun

only child (plural only children)

1. A person who has no siblings.

   Synonym: single child

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, OCLC 246633669, PC, scene: Normandy SR-1:

     Tali: It's my father. He's the senior member of the Admiralty Board. He's one of only five people who can overrule the decisions of the Conclave for the good of the Migrant Fleet.
     Tali: My father is responsible for the lives of seventeen million people -- our entire race is in his hands. And I'm his only child.

2. A person raised as the sole child in a household.

   An only child is often stereotyped as spoiled.

   • 1949, Frank B Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, Cheaper by the Dozen, dedication:

     To DAD

     who only reared twelve children

     and

     To MOTHER

     who reared twelve only children

Synonyms

• oneling
• onlyborn

Translations

person who has no siblings

Armenian: մինուճար (hy) (minučar) (dialectal) Catalan: fill únic m, filla única f Chinese: Cantonese: 獨仔 (duk6 zai2), 獨生仔 (duk6 saang1 zai2), 單傳 (daan1 cyun4) Mandarin: 獨生子女／独生子女 (zh) (dúshēng zǐnǚ) Czech: jedináček (cs) m, jedináčka f Danish: enebarn (da) n Dutch: enig kind n Esperanto: solenaskito, solenaskita infano, solinfano, solfilo, solfilino Faroese: einabarn n Finnish: ainokainen (fi), ainoa lapsi French: enfant unique (fr) m, fils unique (fr) m, fille unique (fr) f Galician: fillo único m, filla única f Georgian: მხოლოდშობილი (mxolodšobili), დედისერთა (dediserta) German: Einzelkind (de) n Greek: μοναχοπαίδι (el) n (monachopaídi) Hebrew: בן יחיד‎ m Hindi: इकलौता (hi) m (iklautā) Hungarian: egyke (hu) Icelandic: einbirni (is) n, einkabarn n Indonesian: anak tunggal (id) Interlingua: infante unic Irish: aonghin f Italian: figlio unico m, figlia unica f Japanese: 一人っ子 (ひとりっこ, hitorikko), 一粒種 (ひとつぶだね, hitotsubudane) Lingala: likinda Malay: anak tunggal Maori: huatahi, tautahi Norwegian: Bokmål: enebarn (no) n Nynorsk: einebarn n Persian: تک‌فرزند‎ (tak-farzand) Polish: jedynak (pl) m, jedynaczka (pl) f Portuguese: filho único m, filha única f Romansch: uffant sulet m, affon persul m, unfànt sulet m, unfant sulet m, iffaunt sulet m, iffaunt unic m, affon persul m, unfànt sulet m, unfant sulet m, iffaunt sulet m, iffaunt unic m Russian: еди́нственный ребёнок m (jedínstvennyj rebjónok) Serbo-Croatian: jedinče, jedinac, jedinica Slovak: jedináčik m, jedináčička f Spanish: hijo único m, hija única f Swedish: ensambarn (sv) n Tagalog: bugtong na anak Turkish: tek çocuk Welsh: unig blentyn

See also

• only daughter
• only son
• siblingless