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, 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／独仔 (duk⁶ zai²), 獨生仔／独生仔 (duk⁶ saang¹ zai²), 單傳／单传 (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)
• Ingrian: ainava laps
• 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)
• Korean: 외동 (oedong)
• 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
• Vietnamese: con một (vi)
• Welsh: unig blentyn

See also

• only daughter
• only son
• siblingless