Alloparents

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals offering parental care to offspring not genetically related to them
2. Those who take on the role of caregivers for children who are not their own biological descendants
3. Persons who provide care and support to young ones that are not their biological children

Etymology: "Alloparents" is the plural of "alloparent", and its history is simply a combination of two parts. The first part, "allo-", comes from the Greek "allos", meaning "other" or "different", and appears in scientific coinages such as "allogamy" and "allopatric". The second part is the familiar English "parent", which traces back through Old French to Latin "parens", a parent or begetter. Joined together, the pair describes a caregiver who is "other" than the biological parent. The prefix signals that the relationship is one of care rather than genetics, which is why the term is used in fields such as biology and anthropology, where researchers study non-parent adults who help raise young. The plural form simply refers to a group of such caregivers.