What does adopted mean?
"Adopted" is an adjective describing someone or something that has been taken in or taken up by choice. Its primary sense refers to a child who has been legally made a permanent member of a family other than the one they were born into, as in "their adopted daughter". A secondary sense extends the idea to things embraced voluntarily: an immigrant may speak of an adopted country, a writer of an adopted pen name, or a community of an adopted tradition. The word carries warm connotations of deliberate welcome and chosen belonging, which is why phrases like "adopted home" feel affectionate rather than clinical. It derives from the Latin "adoptare", formed from "ad-" (toward) and "optare" (to choose or desire), so at its root it simply means "chosen". Care should be taken not to confuse it with "adoptive", which describes the parents or family doing the adopting, or with "adapted", which concerns adjustment rather than acceptance.
(Of a child) legally taken into another's family and raised as a son or daughter.
"She was an adopted child, but her parents never treated her as anything less than their own."
Typically used attributively before nouns denoting family members: adopted son, adopted brother, adopted child.
(Of a place, name, or custom) taken up or embraced by choice rather than by birth or origin.
"He considered Australia his adopted country after thirty years there."
Every adopted child is proof that family is something you can choose — the word itself comes from Latin 'optare', meaning to wish for or desire.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of adopted
"Adopted" comes from the past participle of "adopt", which English borrowed in the early modern period from French "adopter", itself from Latin "adoptare", meaning "to choose for oneself" or "to take as one's own". The Latin verb combines "ad-" (toward) with "optare" (to wish for, choose), the same root that gives us "option" and "opt". The legal sense relating to children developed alongside Roman adoption law, one of the oldest formal institutions of family law, while the figurative sense of an adopted country or custom followed naturally from the core idea of choosing something as one's own.
Related word forms
How adopted is actually used
As an adjective, "adopted" most often precedes nouns denoting children or family relations (an adopted child, an adopted brother). When describing places or customs, it carries a warm, voluntary connotation of belonging by choice. Distinguish carefully from "adoptive", which applies to the receiving side of the relationship.
Easily confused with adopted
"Adoptive" describes the parents or family who take a child in (the adoptive mother), while "adopted" describes the child who has been taken in.
"Adapted" means modified or adjusted to suit new conditions, whereas "adopted" means taken up or legally taken into a family.