changeling

American  

[cheynj-ling] / ˈtʃeɪndʒ lɪŋ /

noun

• changelings
  plural

1. a child surreptitiously or unintentionally substituted for another.

2. (in folklore) an ugly, stupid, or strange child left by fairies in place of a pretty, charming child.

3. Philately. a postage stamp that, by accident or intention, has been chemically changed in color.

4. Archaic.

   1. a renegade or turncoat.

   2. an imbecile.

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changeling British  

/ ˈtʃeɪndʒlɪŋ /

noun

1. a child believed to have been exchanged by fairies for the parents' true child

2. archaic

   1. an idiot

   2. a fickle or changeable person

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• changelings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of changeling

First recorded in 1545–55; change + -ling ¹

Explanation

A changeling is a child who is suspected to not be a couple’s real child. As the myth goes, a changeling was substituted by fairies. Do you ever feel like your parents might not be your real parents? Then maybe you’re a changeling. A changeling is part of a switcheroo by fairies who switch out a couple’s real baby with another baby. The new baby is the changeling. Fortunately, fairies are mythical creatures, so the concept of a changeling is also fanciful. The -ling part appears in many other Middle and Old English words: underling, hireling, duckling, and yearling, to name a few.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

changeling changelings

That metaphor of the outcast changeling, rejected for who she is at her core by a rigid society, earned a loyal following — and accolades, including an Eisner Award and a National Book Award nomination.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 15, 2023

Seven recruits him to help find the changeling, which is, on its face, a great idea.

From New York Times ● Mar. 9, 2023

A New York Times review of the film said Oberon had "perfectly caught the restless, changeling spirit of the Brontë heroine".

From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2022

The one mythological aspect of the show I did like was its use of the concept of a changeling, which is when a fairy baby gets switched with a human at birth.

From Slate ● Jan. 28, 2021

It was as if he were a changeling, a troubled child not so secretly adopted by the Icelanders, but with love and without foreboding.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Although Starfleet eventually came up with a cure — thanks Dr. Bashir! — it radicalized some changelings along the way.

From New York Times ● Mar. 23, 2023

“The Changeling” by Victor LaValle uses as its inspiration the stories of changelings, false doubles left in place of human children who are stolen by fairies.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 16, 2020

At one point, Bella thinks, “O changelings of the world: we go up and down the ladder in this circus called life, and we are more entertaining than clowns, more grotesque than freaks.”

From The New Yorker ● May 1, 2017

In addition to trolls, gnomes and changelings, Arcadia has goblins, lots of them.

From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2016

Neither man nor woman, neither and both, cyclic, lunar, metamorphosing under the hand’s touch, changelings in the human cradle, they were no flesh of mine, no friends; no love between us.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Related Words

• backup
• replacement
• stand-in
• surrogate