stepchild
1 antonym for stepchild — opposites grouped by meaning.
Noun — The child of one's husband or wife from an earlier relationship.
Antonyms
stepparent
How to use stepchild
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
her stepchild
his stepchildren
raise a stepchild
a stepchild from his first marriage
Stepchild is a neutral, everyday family term, not a formal or legal label.
Etymology
Stepchild goes back to Middle English forms such as stepchild and stepchyld, which in turn come from Old English steopcild. That Old English word was simply step- joined to cild, meaning child, and close cognates survive in Dutch, German and Swedish.
Full origin of stepchild →Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a stepchild and an adopted child?
A stepchild is a spouse's child from an earlier relationship and keeps that legal status unless formally adopted, whereas an adopted child has been legally made a full child of the adopting parent.
Is stepchild ever written with a hyphen?
Yes, step-child is used as an alternative spelling alongside the more common one-word form stepchild.
What do you call a stepchild's stepparent's other children?
Those are usually called stepsiblings, or half-siblings if they share one biological parent with the stepchild.
