lostling means A person who is lost or abandoned. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “lostling” is a great word
A person who is lost or has been abandoned. From the English adjective 'lost' (meaning unable to find one's way or deprived of something) + the diminutive or pejorative suffix '-ling' (denoting one connected with or having the quality of). First attested in 1872. Unlike a 'foundling,' which implies the closed narrative of discovery and rescue, or a 'waif,' which evokes the specific pathos of a forsaken child, a lostling denotes the expansive and enduring condition of being adrift. It is the figure receding into the fog on a forgotten platform, the occupant of a rented room who has forgotten their origin story, the adult whose hometown no longer knows their name—a quiet testament that one can be most profoundly lost not in a wilderness, but in the world.
Etymology
From lost + -ling.
noun
- A person who is lost or abandoned.