An orphanage is a place where children live and are cared for when they don't have parents to take care of them. This might happen because their parents have died, or because their parents aren't able to care for them for serious reasons. In an orphanage, adults called caretakers or house parents provide food, shelter, education, and supervision for these children.

Orphanages were once common around the world. In the 1800s and early 1900s, large orphanages housed dozens or even hundreds of children in dormitory-style buildings. You might have read about orphanages in classic books like Oliver Twist or Anne of Green Gables, where the main characters lived in orphanages before their stories began.

Today, most countries have moved away from traditional orphanages toward foster care systems, where children live with families in regular homes instead of in institutions. Research showed that children generally do better when they grow up in family settings rather than large group homes. However, orphanages still exist in some parts of the world, and the word remains part of our vocabulary because of its historical importance and its presence in literature and history.

The word can also appear in phrases like orphanage director (the person who runs an orphanage) or in historical discussions about how societies have cared for children who don't have families.