A posthumous child is a child born after the death of one or both parents — most commonly after the death of the father.

Biological/General meaning A child conceived before a parent's death but born after that parent has died. The most common scenario is a child born after the father dies, since the father's death can occur during the mother's pregnancy. Less commonly, it can refer to a child born via assisted reproduction using preserved gametes after a parent's death.

Legal meaning In law, a posthumous child is generally recognized as having the same inheritance and succession rights as children born during the parent's lifetime, provided:

Many legal systems (e.g., common law countries) have specific statutes protecting the rights of posthumous children to inherit from the deceased parent's estate.

Medical/Obstetric context The term is sometimes used more broadly in medicine to describe any child delivered after a parent's death, including via postmortem cesarean section (cesarean performed on a recently deceased pregnant woman).

From Latin postumus ("last, born after the father's death") — the "h" was added by medieval scholars who mistakenly linked it to humus (earth/burial), suggesting "after burial."