What is the word for a child without a father?

Answer 1

Everyone has a father. Not all know their father. Not all live with or near their father. Some never see their father.

Colloquial terms for a illegitimate children are:

• bastard
• illegitimate child
• extramarital child
• fatherless child
• bar sinister

Many of these are now considered offensive.

Answer 2

All children must have a father - it take a man and a woman to make a child.

So if there is no father in the family at present, there can be two reasons

1. The father has died or the parents have separated.
2. The mother slept with a man but did not then go on to make a home with him.

In the first case the child is just a called a child but in the second case the child can be said to be a "bastard" child.

In times gone by being a bastard child was a social stigma but in our modern times the stigma and therefore the word are no longer used.

Answer 3

fatherless