parental

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin parentālis (“of or belonging to parents”),^[2][3][4][5] formed with the suffix -ālis on parēns (“father or mother”),^[2][3] the source of parent.^[3] The OED compares parental, parental (1536, but rare before the 20th century), parentale and parental;^[2] the Anglo-Norman Dictionary records parental, of a parent, from 1372.^[6] A short-lived English noun parental, probably meaning parents or ancestors, is recorded once, in Fabyan's chronicle (a1513), probably from the post-classical Latin plural parentālia (“family, kin”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of, belonging to or characteristic of a parent or parents; fatherly or motherly: 1542, in Edward Gosynhyll's Prayse of all Women.^[2][7] The Shorter Oxford dates it to the mid-16th century,^[8] while Etymonline dates it to the 1620s and Dictionary.com to 1615–25.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

From 1647 the adjective was also used figuratively of something that is a source or origin, as a parent is.^[2][7] Johnson (1755) defined it as becoming parents or pertaining to parents, quoting Sir Thomas Browne and William Derham on parental care among animals.^[10] In genetics the parental generation is the first generation in a line of breeding, from which the following, filial, generations descend.^[11] Merriam-Webster also records a use for the source or original of something, such as a parent company or a parent compound in chemistry.^[5]

Timeline

• 1372 – Anglo-Norman parental, of a parent.^[6]
• a1513 – noun parental, probably parents, ancestors (obsolete).^[2]
• 1542 – of or belonging to a parent; fatherly or motherly.^[2]
• 1620s – Etymonline's date for the adjective.^[3]
• 1647 – being the source or origin of something.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or coming from a parent or parents: Children under twelve need parental consent to join the club.
2. Like or proper to a parent; protective and caring.
3. (genetics) Belonging to the first generation in a line of breeding, from which the filial generations descend.

Word family

• parentally
• biparental
• interparental
• nonparental
• preparental
• uniparental
• unparental
• parental home

Related words

• parent
• parentage
• parenthood

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins