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Just read this in Emma Donoghue's book "Room". Is there a word for adults who are not parents?

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As a parent, I have often thought that adults who don't have to care for children are not real adults. They are themselves grown-up children, because they've never had to think of anyone's happines but their own. ;=) – Robusto May 6 '11 at 12:38
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The question is ambiguous. Do you mean an adult who is not a carer for any other person, or an adult who does look after a person but is not that person's parent? – Steve Melnikoff May 6 '11 at 13:22
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As a parent, I have often thought that adults who don't have children must be the LUCKIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, because they never have to think of anyone's happiness but their own. And they aren't in for 100K$ per child for college expenses. – horatio May 6 '11 at 14:36
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@Robusto: I've met plenty of parents that still only think of their own happiness ;P – Tester101 May 6 '11 at 15:49
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@Robusto and @horatio -- as a childless, married, adult, I can assure you that not all of us are lucky, selfish, grown-up children. Many of us spend hundreds of hours a year with other peoples' children, especially those children who don't have functional parents. We're still part of the village. – thursdaysgeek May 6 '11 at 22:20
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4 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

"Adults".

The word "adult" does not imply that one is a parent, so there is no need for a word that describes a childless adult.

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Or a featherless adult, for that matter. – bmargulies May 6 '11 at 17:38
up vote 7 down vote

  • childless (comes with the expectation of adult and married)

  • barren (more about the inability to have children rather than the state of lack thereof)

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up vote 3 down vote

Doing a wikicrawl revealed these two terms:

  • DINK or DINKY — dual (or double) income, no kids (yet)
  • childfree — individuals who neither have children nor desire to have children

Both of these hold a lot of connotation. DINK is somewhat derogatory; childfree is almost seen as a lifestyle choice similar to vegetarianism or recycling.

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up vote 2 down vote

As MikeVaughan proposed, Guardian seems a logical choice for someone who's with you in order to protect you in some fashion, but who is also not your parent.

May I also propose bachelor? That also implies someone who isn't married, but if that applies in your case, then this would be another possibility.

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Bachelors can have children. – Andy May 6 '11 at 15:38
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Technically, so can barren adults or guardians. Though I think you'd be hard-pressed to assume someone having children after calling him a bachelor, and ultimately interpretation is what counts. – Neil May 6 '11 at 15:49
very true. – Andy May 6 '11 at 16:03

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