motherless
Without a motherWithout a (living) mother.
Recorded: Commander Keane, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
» Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.
carlosalberto · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
3 senses(not comparable)Without a (living) mother.
mutterlos
having no living or known mother
(not comparable)Without mother (mucilaginous substance in fermenting liquid).
(figuratively, not comparable)Without a history or predecessor.
Examples
3 sentencesSometimes I feel like a motherless child.
He was no better than a motherless child.
You poor motherless children! How I pity you; and yet I can do nothing to help you!
deIhr armen mutterlosen Kinder! Wie ich euch bedauere! Und doch kann ich nichts tun, um euch zu helfen. — Pfirsichbaeumchen
Translations
3 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English moderles, from Old English mōdorlēas, from Proto-Germanic *mōdērlausazFrom Middle English moderles, from Old English mōdorlēas, from Proto-Germanic *mōdērlausaz, equivalent to mother + -less. Cognate with Saterland Frisian muurloos (“motherless”), Dutch moederloos (“motherless”), German mutterlos (“motherless”), Danish moderløs (“motherless”), Swedish moderlös (“motherless”), Icelandic móðurlaus (“motherless”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Word family
1 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.