Kleinkind

See also: kleinkind

German

Etymology

From klein (“small”) +‎ Kind (“child”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklaɪ̯nˌkɪnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Kleinkind n (strong, genitive Kleinkindes or Kleinkinds, plural Kleinkinder)

1. child under six years old, pre-school-age child

   Hyponyms: Kleinstkind, Wickelkind, Säugling, Neugeborenes, Baby, Bébé

Usage notes

Can often be translated “toddler”, but the German is broader in application, as it includes both infants under 1 year old and children between 3 and 5 years old, who are generally not called toddlers in English but preschoolers.

Declension

Declension of Kleinkind [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Kleinkind	die	Kleinkinder
genitive	eines	des	Kleinkindes, Kleinkinds	der	Kleinkinder
dative	einem	dem	Kleinkind, Kleinkinde1	den	Kleinkindern
accusative	ein	das	Kleinkind	die	Kleinkinder

¹Now rare, see notes.

Further reading

• “Kleinkind” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Kleinkind” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Kleinkind” in Duden online
• Kleinkind on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de