parent

American  

[pair-uhnt, par-] / ˈpɛər ənt, ˈpær- /

noun

• parents
  plural

1. a father or a mother.

2. an ancestor, precursor, or progenitor.

3. a source, origin, or cause.

4. a protector or guardian.

5. Biology. any organism that produces or generates another.

6. Physics. the first nuclide in a radioactive series.

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adjective

1. being the original source.

   a parent organization.

2. Biology. pertaining to an organism, cell, or complex molecular structure that generates or produces another.

   parent cell;

   parent DNA.

verb (used with object)

1. to be or act as parent of.

   to parent children with both love and discipline.

parent British  

/ ˈpɛərənt /

noun

1. a father or mother

2. a person acting as a father or mother; guardian

3. rare an ancestor

4. a source or cause

5. 1. an organism or organization that has produced one or more organisms or organizations similar to itself

   2. ( as modifier )

      a parent organism

6. physics chem

   1. a precursor, such as a nucleus or compound, of a derived entity

   2. ( as modifier )

      a parent nucleus

      a parent ion

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonparent
  noun
• parenthood
  noun
• parentless
  adjective
• parentlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• parents
  plural

Etymology

Origin of parent

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin parent-, stem of parēns, noun use of present participle of parere “to bring forth, breed”

Explanation

A parent is a mother or father. Your mom and your dad are your parents, and one of their jobs is to parent you. We're all born to parents, and many of us also have step parents, foster parents, or adoptive parents who parent us. You might also use parent to talk about plants and animals; maybe your new puppy's parents were dog show champions, for example. Things that act as the source or owner of something else are also parents, like a parent company that owns the local bookshop. The Latin root is parere, "give birth to, produce."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

parent parents

The bank in late May extended its reach in the U.S. with an agreement to buy Texas-based Maple Financial, the parent of MapleMark Bank.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

For this reason, it’s common for a parent or trusted adult with better credit to cosign a student’s loan.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026

"I kept asking if Phoebe would survive but the doctors said they were unable to answer that at that time, which is the worst thing in the world as a parent."

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026

Zuckerberg runs Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

A few months ago, I couldn’t imagine what that felt like, having a parent disappear on you.

From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller

But it’s also the school year, with every public school in the state open and parents already ferrying their children back and forth each day.

From Slate ● Aug. 25, 2026

In the movie, Bolleau played the teen daughter of two scientists who build a time machine that malfunctions, forcing the kids to take care of their parents as they “de-age” and become children.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

After previously being able to borrow up to the cost of attendance, parents can now only borrow $20,000 a year per dependent student and no more than $65,000 total per student.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026

Just to be born to my parents, versus a lot of the kids I grew up with.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026

Squirrels skitter at each other outside the open window, and squeals of “You’re it!” from kids visiting with their parents swallow the silence.

From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam

Related Words

• father
• mother