Orphans Property
Last updated: 2026-09-13
orphans Orphans Property
orphans controls the minimum number of lines from the end of a paragraph that must remain at the top of a new page when printing, defaulting to 2. It is a CSS paged-media property that prevents a paragraph's last line from appearing alone at the bottom of the previous page (an 'orphan'), improving printed readability.
| Category | |
|---|---|
| Initial Value | 2 |
| Inherited | Yes |
| Applies To | |
| Animation Type | |
| CSS Version | CSS2 |
| Status | Standard |
📝 Syntax
orphans: <integer>;⚙️ Values
| Value | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
<integer> | Type | Minimum lines at the end of a paragraph |
▶ Example
Edit the code below and see the live result in the playground:
🌐 Browser Support
| Browser |  Chrome |
 Edge |
 Firefox |
 Safari |
 Opera |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| orphans | ✓ v10 | ✓ v12 | ✓ v1 | ✓ v1 | ✓ v1 |
| Supported in all major browsers | |||||
Tip： orphans and widows only take effect in paged media (print); screen display is unaffected.
❓ FAQ
QWhat is the difference between orphans and widows?
Aorphans controls the minimum lines kept at the top of the next page from the end of a paragraph, so the paragraph's last line never sits alone at the page top. widows controls the minimum lines kept at the bottom of the previous page from the start of a paragraph, so the first line never sits alone at the page bottom. Both are paged-media properties; used together they keep paragraphs intact.
QWhy is the default value of orphans 2?
AA single orphaned line at the page top noticeably hurts readability, and typographic conventions require at least two lines to form a complete paragraph block. Hence browsers default to orphans: 2 — if fewer than two lines would remain at the page break, the whole paragraph moves to the next page. Print publishing often sets 3 or higher for cleaner page breaks.
QCan orphans be set to 0?
AYes. The syntax accepts any non-negative integer. Setting 0 allows zero lines to be kept (i.e. orphaned lines are allowed), but it is not recommended because orphans break reading flow. Common values are 2 to 4, usually matched with widows, e.g. orphans: 3; widows: 3;, so paragraphs keep at least three lines at both ends.
QIn what scenarios does orphans take effect?
AOnly in paged media: printing, print preview, PDF export, and some e-book renderers. Web pages scroll continuously and have no 'pages', so the property does nothing there. Long printed documents (reports, theses, contracts) should set orphans and widows inside @media print to keep paragraph first/last lines from being split across pages.
🏷️ Related Properties
💡 Related Cases
📚 Related Tutorials
widows Property
Control the minimum lines at the start of a paragraph
CSS Print Styles Tutorial
Master paged-media typography
