childhood

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Middle English childhode, childhod, from Old English ċildhād (childhood), equivalent to child +‎ -hood. Compare dialectal Dutch kindheid (childishness), German Low German Kinnerheid (childhood), and German Kindheit (childhood).

Pronunciation

[edit]
  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃaɪldhʊd/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪldhʊd
  • Hyphenation: child‧hood

Noun

[edit]

childhood (countable and uncountable, plural childhoods)

  1. (chiefly uncountable) The state of being a child.
    • 2013 September-October, Terrie Moffitt et al., “Lifelong Impact of Early Self-Control”, in American Scientist:
      To our own surprise, our 40-year study of 1,000 children revealed that childhood self-control strongly predicts adult success, in people of high or low intelligence, in rich or poor, and does so throughout the entire population, with a step change in health, wealth, and social success at every level of self-control.
  2. The time during which one is a child, from between infancy and puberty.
  3. (by extension) The early stages of development of something.

Derived terms

[edit]

Translations

[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also

[edit]

Middle English

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

childhood

  1. Alternative form of childhode