In English, there is a word for someone who loses a spouse: widow. There is a word for someone who loses their parents: orphan.
Until now, there has been no word for a parent who loses a child.
Now, that changes.
FCB Health New York, in partnership with the nonprofits Visioning Beyond Violence and Youth Alive!, has launched The Missing Word, introducing a new word to recognize one of the most devastating–and increasingly common–human experiences.
That word is ollipsent (oh-LIP-sint): a parent who has lost a child.
The word was developed with linguist Chelsea Frazier and revealed first to parents whose children were killed by gun violence–the leading cause of death among children and teens in the United States.
β’ Every day in America, 7 young people are killed by gun violence
β’ 2,526 youth die each year
Yet until now, the parents left behind had no word to describe who they are.
βWithout a word, grief can feel invisible,β said Frazier. βNaming something gives it recognition. It tells people: you exist. Your loss exists.β
Ollipsent is derived from the Greek word ellipΔs. From this root word comes the English word: ellipsis (β¦) three dots signifying something left unsaid or missing. The βoβ in the word symbolizes the ongoing cycle of love and loss. The βentβ anchors the word in identity because this word belongs to parents.
For parents, the impact was immediate.
βI am an ollipsent,β said Marilyn Washington-Harris, whose son was killed by gun violence. βNow we have a name. Now people can see us.β
Congresswoman Lucy McBath, who lost her 17-year-old son Jordan to gun violence, described the experience: βThis kind of grief lives in your body. Parents move forward because they have to–but we never fully heal.β
The Missing Word was created not only to acknowledge grief–but to make it visible. Because recognition is the first step toward healing. And toward change.
In this film, we meet select parents whoβs suffered and are trying to endure this most profound tragedy. Directed by Jean Paulo Lasmar via production company Famous Who, the film also chronicles the genesis of the word βollipsent.β
