Parents

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpɛə.ɹənts/

Definitions

1. Guardians who provide care, support, and education to their children
2. Individuals responsible for the nurturing and development of their offspring through guidance and love
3. The mother and father considered as the source of a child or children with roles in upbringing

Etymology: "Parents" is simply the plural of "parent," so the story belongs to the singular. "Parent" entered English in the Middle English period, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Middle French, which had taken it from the Latin "parentem," the accusative form of "parēns," meaning one who brings forth. The root verb is "pariō," "to breed" or "bring forth," which is also the source of words like "parturition" and "viviparous." The Latin word was an active, productive term rather than a fixed label for a family role. Its sense of "one who gives birth" is the literal core that the English word has kept, even as it came to name the social and legal relationship between a child and its guardians.

Synonyms: guardians, caretakers, progenitors, ancestors, forebears

Antonyms: children, offspring