Plural of foundling; babies or young children that have been abandoned and found by others.
From Middle English foundling, from found (past tense of find) + -ling suffix meaning a person or thing in a condition. The suffix -ling creates a diminutive, emphasizing the vulnerable state of abandoned children.
Foundlings appear throughout history and literature as symbols of mysterious origins—from Moses in the Bible to Oliver Twist—because nobody knows who they really are or where they came from.
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