Noun: stepchild
| Singular | stepchild |
| Plural | stepchildren |
Sample Sentences
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On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared on “The Drew Barrymore Show,” and in a lighthearted moment, explained — as she did during the last presidential election cycle — that in her blended family, her stepchildren affectionately call her Momala. [2024 May 1, Charles M. Blow, “Kamala Harris Isn’t Americans’ ‘Momala.’ She’s Our Vice President.”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 03 May 2024:]
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Calculating the growth in stepfamilies isn’t simple, but a demographic analysis published last year estimated that about 16 percent of Americans over age 70 have at least one stepchild. […] Overall, stepchildren provide less care to older adults [2024 August 3, Paula Span, “When Elder Care Is All in the Stepfamily”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 29 Aug 2024:]
Nouns inflected like stepchild
subchild,
great grandchild,
natural child,
great-great-grandchild,
merchild,
boychild,
iPad child,
spirit child,
flower child,
paternal grandchild,
lovechild,
schoolchild,
snowflake child,
home child,
moonchild,
pretermitted child,
single child,
only child,
foster child,
anarchild, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From Middle English stepchild, stepchyld, from Old English stēopċild (“stepchild”), equivalent to step- + child. Compare Dutch stiefkind (“stepchild”), German Stiefkind (“stepchild”), Swedish styvbarn (“stepchild”). See: Middle English Nouns '
stepchild', Dutch Nouns '
stiefkind', German Nouns '
Stiefkind', Swedish Nouns '
styvbarn'.