Word.ws English Dictionary

stepchildren

stepchildren is the plural of stepchild.

Meaning of stepchild

Noun

stepchild (plural stepchildren)

  1. The child of one's spouse from a previous relationship.
    • 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
    Synonyms:
    stepbairn, stepkid, step
  2. (obsolete) A bereaved child; one who has lost father or mother.
    Synonyms:
    orphan

Origin of stepchildren

From Middle English stepchildren, stepchildre, remodelled based on child from Old English stēopċild (nominative/accusative), stēopċilda (genitive), and stēopċildum (dative) ("stepchildren"). Equivalent to step- + children.

Phrases with stepchildren

Questions about stepchildren

What is stepchildren the plural of?
Stepchildren is the plural of stepchild.

Words near stepchildren in the dictionary

  1. stepchairs
  2. stepchart
  3. stepcharts
  4. stepchild
  5. stepchildhood
  6. stepchildren
  7. stepcousin
  8. stepcousins
  9. stepdad
  10. stepdaddies
  11. stepdaddy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stepchildren (page history and authors); stepchild (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “stepchildren.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stepchildren. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.