noun ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An adopted son or daughter.
2. 2
   someone (such as a child) who has been adopted wordnet
3. 3
   A person who was adopted as a child.

   "An adult Chinese female adoptee has found her biological parents."

4. 4
   Synonym of adopter.

Synonyms

All synonyms

adopter

Example

More examples

"An adult Chinese female adoptee has found her biological parents."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from French adoptée, feminine past participle of adopter meaning "to adopt", equivalent to adopt + -ee.

Related phrases

foster child

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.