Meanings
- uncountableSherlock fandom slangA subgenre of Sherlock fan fiction in which Sherlock and John raise a child or children together.
All of these AU parentlock stories or series become "alternate" because of a change in the Sherlock-John relationship and the inclusion of a child who becomes theirs.
2018, Jennifer Wojton, Lynnette Porter, Sherlock and Digital Fandom: The Meeting of Creativity, Community and Advocacy, page 412 more examples
Especially because of Season Three's depiction of heavily pregnant Mary in "His Last Vow," fans who ship Johnlock are more likely to consider the inclusion of a Watson baby within the parentlock narrative of Sherlock and John.
2016, Alyxis Smith, “Fan Fiction as an Argument: Arguing for Johnlock through the Roles of Women and Explicit Sex Scenes in Sherlock Fan Fiction”, in Lynnette Porter, editor, Who Is Sherlock?: Essays on Identity in Modern Holmes Adaptations, page 164The relevant tags here were very similar to LJ, if phrased slightly differently: e.g., parentlock (portmanteau of parent + Sherlock), military John, genderswap, mpreg.
2017, Judith May Fathallah, Fanfiction and the Author: How Fanfic Changes Popular Cultural Texts, page 65
Origin
Cite this entry
parentlock. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parentlock
“parentlock.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parentlock. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “parentlock,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/parentlock.
Source: parentlock on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.