stepfamily

A stepfamily (sometimes called a bonus family) is a family where at least one parent has children who are not biologically related to their spouse. Either parent, or both, may have children from previous relationships or marriages. Two known classifications for stepfamilies include "simple" stepfamilies, where only one member of the family's couple has a prior child or children and the couple does not have any children together, and "complex" or "blended" families, where both members of the couple have at least one child from another relationship.

== Etymology == The earliest recorded use of the prefix step-, in the form , is from an 8th-century glossary of Latin-Old English words meaning . is given for the Latin word and for . Similar words recorded later in Old English include , , and . The words are used to denote a connection resulting from the remarriage of a widowed parent and are related to the word meaning 'bereaved', with and occasionally used simply as synonyms for orphan. Words such as stepbrother, stepniece and stepparent appeared much later and have no particular connotation of bereavement. Corresponding words in other Germanic languages include Old High German and Old Norse .