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Possible Duplicate:
A depends on B, is A dependant, or is B dependant?
“Employee” is to “employer” as “dependent” is to what?

A and B are two persons. When A is a dependent of B, what of A is B?

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Tim
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    I suspect you mean *dependant, don’t you? That’s the noun. Dependent* is an adjective. – tchrist Aug 05 '12 at 22:43
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    Possible duplicates: http://english.stackexchange.com/q/12547/18655; http://english.stackexchange.com/q/67365/18655 – JLG Aug 05 '12 at 22:44
  • Hi @Tim--I edited out the "Thanks!" at the end of your question because it doesn't add a lot of context. For more information, please see this post. –  Aug 05 '12 at 22:45
  • @tchrist: Well, at my tdameritrade account, there is an item "Number of dependents". Also in 1040 form, it says "If someone can claim you as a dependent,...". What is the difference between dependant and dependent as nouns? – Tim Aug 05 '12 at 22:46
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    @Tim They’ve used the wrong word, then. Pity, that. – tchrist Aug 05 '12 at 22:48
  • @tchrist: this source says dependent has the same meaning as dependant: https://www.google.com/search?q=define+dependent&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=ubuntu&channel=fs – Tim Aug 05 '12 at 22:55
  • That’s nice. The OED says of dependent adj.: “Originally dependant, a. Fr. dépendant (14th c. in Hatzf.), pr. pple. of dépendre to hang down, depend: from the 16th c. often assimilated to L. dēpendēnt-em, and now usually so spelt, the form in -ant being almost obs. in the adj., though retained in the sb., q.v.” Yes, we know what they meant. Yes, they used the wrong word. So? – tchrist Aug 05 '12 at 22:58
  • @tchrist: What do " obs.", "sb.", "q.v." mean? I cannot parse the sentence in bold. – Tim Aug 05 '12 at 23:01
  • obs. is obsolete, sb. is substantive (read: noun), and q.v. is quod vide. – tchrist Aug 05 '12 at 23:03
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    @tchrist OED seems to be giving British spelling, as one might expect. IRS is using American spelling, also as one might expect. http://grammarist.com/spelling/dependant-dependent/ – MetaEd Aug 06 '12 at 04:26

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Perhaps the term provider or the phrase principal provider conveys the relationship.

SUPPLEMENT: I think JLG is right that this is a duplicate (and others have suggested what I propose).

bib
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Depending on the circumstance, if A is the dependant of B, then B may be the guardian of A. As tchris noted, this would apply for a parent-child relationship, but it does not fit when referring to spouses.

dj18
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