Phrase guide

love child

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A child born as a result of a romantic liaison between parents not married to one another; an illegitimate child.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: euphemistic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bastard, bantling, bastardling, bastid, batchelor's son, by-blow, degenerate, fruit of adultery, haramzada, illegitimate, love child, mamzer, misbegotten, natural child, nullius filius, outside child, slink, whoreson

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Something that includes influences of multiple predecessors.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The grunge genre was the love child of punk and metal.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the illegitimate offspring of unmarried parents

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bastard, by-blow, illegitimate child, illegitimate, whoreson

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: offspring, progeny, issue

History

Etymology

From love + child.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: извънбра́чно дете́ (izvǎnbráčno deté) — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Chinese Mandarin: 私生子 (sīshēngzǐ) — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Chinese Mandarin: 私生兒 /私生儿 (sīshēngr) — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Danish: kærlighedsbarn — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Dutch: liefdeskind — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Esperanto: eksteredzeca infano — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Estonian: sohilaps — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Finnish: avioton lapsi — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Finnish: lehtolapsi — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • French: enfant de l'amour — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • German: Kind der Liebe — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • German: außereheliches Kind — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • German: uneheliches Kind — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Hungarian: szerelemgyerek — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Indonesian: anak luar nikah — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Interlingua: filio illegitime — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Irish: páiste suirí — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Italian: figlio illegittimo — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Japanese: 私生児 (shiseiji) — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Japanese: ラブチャイルド (rabu chairudo) — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Japanese: 落とし子 (otoshigo) — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Japanese: 隠し子 — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Korean: 사생아 (sasaeng'a) — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Korean: 러브 차일드 (reobeu chaildeu) — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Malay: anak luar nikah — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Navajo: wótashkiʼ — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Navajo: yátashkiʼ — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Polish: owoc miłości — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Portuguese: ilegítimo — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Romanian: copil din flori — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Russian: дитя́ любви́ (ditjá ljubví) — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Russian: внебра́чный ребёнок (vnebráčnyj rebjónok) — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Spanish: hijo natural — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Spanish: hija natural — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Swedish: kärleksbarn — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Turkish: gayrimeşru çocuk — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents
  • Volapük: nematikacil — child born as a result of a romantic liaison between unmarried parents