Is there a word that means “a parent who has exactly one child”?
EDIT: I am asking for purposes of creating a computing construct. But if there were an answer that is clearly correct for another domain, I’d be delighted to use it.
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3Don't think so.– ChristiMar 12, 2012 at 16:11
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a singleton?– cornbread ninja 麵包忍者Mar 12, 2012 at 16:13
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3monogenerative?– FumbleFingersMar 12, 2012 at 16:59
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Some clarification of intended use might be due here, since this answer may be domain dependent; if such a word exists for mammalian or human parentage, it may not be an appropriate term in the domain on generic graph/tree theory. For Example, "Single-Mom" is a useful term in describing human parentage, but it is of little utility in describing mathematical tree structures.– Chris ByeMar 12, 2012 at 20:22
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In the context of computing, unary node perhaps?– Mr.WizardMar 13, 2012 at 6:28
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2 Answers
Perhaps the closest is uniparous:
- (of certain animals) producing a single offspring at each birth
- (of a woman) having borne only one child
- botany (of a cyme) giving rise to only one branch from each flowering stem
From Parity (biology) also primipara:
a woman who has borne but one child or who is parturient for the first time.
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2@Mark that is correct; I cannot think of anything better, hence "perhaps." Mar 12, 2012 at 16:22
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@Mr.Wizard, also, it's not a very commonly used word. (never heard it myself!), but +1, it's very good.– BidellaMar 13, 2012 at 3:37
I offer one-time:
He’s a one-time father.
The verbs “to be a mother” and “to be a father” mean to deliver a child as a parent. Even if a person is already a parent, they can still “be a parent” again:
I’m going to be a father for the second time.
Oddly, some people seem to use this to refer to labour, not count of children:
She’s a one-time mother of beautiful twin girls.
It also generalises well (and is way more commonly heard) with higher numbers:
Mary was a three-time mother, one-time grandmother, and all-around excellent woman.
answered Mar 12, 2012 at 19:40
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1The only problem I have with this construction is that it is often used to mean something that was in the past, but is no longer. A "one-time" mother could be a mother who has lost her child, or who for some reason no longer acts as a mother or is estranged.– ghoppeMar 12, 2012 at 20:03
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1Use of "one-time" in this way is also a rather American idiom, which may or may not matter.– calum_bMar 12, 2012 at 20:14
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1@ghoppe: Yeah, it’s problematic, but it’s the only “native” English thing I could think of. Mar 12, 2012 at 20:23
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