waifs
Thin, neglected children
Waifs are homeless, neglected, or abandoned people, especially children.
The word carries connotations of vulnerability and thinness—waifs and strays suggests lost creatures in need of care.
In fashion, the waif look describes an extremely thin, fragile appearance: the waif aesthetic of 1990s supermodels.
The singular waif appears in similar contexts.
foundlings
Abandoned children discovered by others
neglected · homeless · destitute · vulnerable · displaced · wards · fostered · adopted · impoverished · innocent
abandoned
Left behind completely
orphaned · neglected · unwanted · adoptable · mongrel · alley · mutt · pound · sanctuary · forlorn
- Victorian childhoodstreet children, foundlings, urchins, destitute children, orphanages
- vulnerable childrenorphans, foster kids, homeless youth, street children, neglected children
- povertypoverty line, poor, poverty rate, impoverished, generational poverty
- girls fictionheroines, girl power, schoolgirls, princesses, coming-of-age
- outcastsoutcast, pariah, pariahs, outcasts, outlaws
- invasive speciesinvasive species, lionfish, emerald ash borer, noxious weeds, kudzu
waifswards
Protected dependents or districts
charges · protégés · dependents · foster children · trust fund babies
waifsheirs
Those who inherit
scions · heiresses · family members · aristocrats · trust fund babies
- waifs and straysHomeless, neglected people