childhood

English

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃaɪldhʊd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪldhʊd
• Hyphenation: child‧hood

Noun

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.

3. The time during which one is a child, from between infancy and puberty.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood.

4. (by extension) The early stages of development of something.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     the childhood of our joy

Derived terms

• childhood disintegrative disorder
• childhood friend
• childhoodless
• childhoodlike
• childhood memory
• early childhood
• early childhood education
• midchildhood
• middle childhood
• prechildhood
• second childhood
• surgically induced childhood

 

Translations

state of being a child

• Aghwan: 𐕘𐔰𐕙𐔴𐕒𐕡𐕎 (ġareun)
• Arabic: طُفُولَة (ar) f (ṭufūla)
• Assamese: ল’ৰালি (lörali), শৈশৱ (xoixob)
• Belarusian: дзяці́нства n (dzjacínstva)
• Bengali: শৈশব (bn) (śōiśob)
• Bhojpuri: बचपन (bacᵊpan)
• Bulgarian: де́тство (bg) n (détstvo)
• Burmese: သူငယ်ဘဝ (su-ngaibha.wa.)
• Catalan: infància (ca) f, infantesa (ca)
• Chichewa: ubwana
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 童年 (tung⁴ nin⁴), 幼年 (jau³ nin⁴)

  Mandarin: 童年 (zh) (tóngnián), 幼年 (zh) (yòunián), 兒童期 / 儿童期 (zh) (értóngqī)

• Crimean Tatar: balalıq
• Czech: dětství (cs) n
• Danish: barndom (da) c
• Egyptian: (ẖrdw), (nḫnt), (nḫnw)
• Esperanto: infaneco
• Faroese: barndómur m
• Finnish: lapseus
• French: enfance (fr) f
• Galician: infancia (gl) f, nenez f
• Georgian: ბავშვობა (bavšvoba)
• German: Kindheit (de) f, Kindschaft f
• Greek: παιδική ηλικία f (paidikí ilikía)
• Gujarati: બચપણ n (bacpaṇ), બાળપણ n (bāḷpaṇ), નાનપણ n (nānpaṇ), બચગી f (bacgī)
• Hebrew: יַלְדוּת (he) f (yaldút)
• Hindi: बचपन (hi) m (bacpan)
• Hungarian: gyermekkor (hu)
• Icelandic: barnæska (is) f
• Italian: infanzia (it) f
• Japanese: 小児期 (しょうにき, shōniki), 幼年 (ja) (ようねん, yōnen)
• Kalmyk: бичкндк цагнь (biçkndk tsagnʹ)
• Kazakh: балалық (balalyq)
• Korean: 어린이성 (eoriniseong), 어린 시절 (eorin sijeol), 유년(幼年) (ko) (yunyeon)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مناڵی (mnallî)

• Latin: pueritia f
• Latvian: bērnība f
• Lithuanian: vaikystė f
• Macedonian: детство n (detstvo), детинство n (detinstvo)
• Maltese: tfulija f
• Maori: whanaketanga
• Marathi: लहानपण n (lahānpaṇ), बालपण n (bālpaṇ), बाल्य n (bālya)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: бага нас (baga nas)

  Mongolian: ᠪᠠᠭ᠎ᠠ
  ᠨᠠᠰᠤ (bag-a nasu)

• Northern Sami: mánnávuohta
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: barndom (no) m

  Nynorsk: barndom m

• Old English: ċildhād m
• Pali: bālya n
• Pannonian Rusyn: дзецинство n (dzecinstvo)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: بَچِگی (bačegi), کودَکی (kudaki)

• Polish: dzieciństwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: infância (pt) f
• Romanian: copilărie (ro) f
• Russian: де́тство (ru) n (détstvo)
• Sanskrit: अपत्यता (sa) f (apatyatā), बाल्य (sa) n (bālya)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дѐтӣњство n, дјѐтӣњство n, ђѐтӣњство n (Montenegrin)

  Roman: dètīnjstvo (sh) n, djètīnjstvo (sh), đètīnjstvo n (Montenegrin)

• Slovak: detstvo n
• Slovene: otroštvo (sl) n, detinstvo n
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: dźěćatstwo (hsb) n

• Spanish: infancia (es) f
• Swahili: uana, utoto (sw)
• Swedish: barndom (sv) c
• Tagalog: pagkabata
• Tajik: бачагӣ (bačagi), кӯдакӣ (küdaki)
• Telugu: బాల్యం (te) (bālyaṁ)
• Thai: วัยเด็ก (th) (wai-dèk)
• Turkish: çocukluk (tr)
• Ukrainian: дити́нство (uk) n (dytýnstvo)
• Urdu: بَچْپَن m (bacpan)
• Volapük: cilüp (vo)
• Welsh: plentyndod m
• Zulu: ubungane class 14, ubuntwana class 14

time when one is a child

• Albanian: foshnjëri (sq) f, fëmijëri (sq) f
• Arabic: طُفُولَة (ar) f (ṭufūla)
• Armenian: մանկություն (hy) (mankutʻyun)
• Assamese: ল’ৰালিকাল (löralikal), শৈশৱকাল (xoixobkal), বাল্যকাল (baillokal)
• Azerbaijani: uşaqlıq, uşaq vaxtı
• Bashkir: бала саҡ (bala saq)
• Belarusian: дзяці́нства n (dzjacínstva)
• Bengali: শৈশব (bn) (śōiśob), ছোটবেলা (chōṭobela), ছেলেবেলা (bn) (chelebela)
• Bulgarian: де́тство (bg) n (détstvo)
• Catalan: infància (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 童年 (tung⁴ nin⁴), 幼年 (jau³ nin⁴)

  Mandarin: 童年 (zh) (tóngnián), 幼年 (zh) (yòunián), 兒童期 / 儿童期 (zh) (értóngqī), 齠年 / 龆年 (zh) (tiáonián) (literary)

• Crimean Tatar: balalıq
• Czech: dětství (cs) n
• Danish: barndom (da) c, barndomstid c
• Dutch: kinderjaren (nl) n, kindertijd (nl) m
• Esperanto: infanaĝo
• Estonian: lapsepõlv, lapseiga (et)
• Faroese: barndómur m, barnaár n pl, óvitaár n pl
• Finnish: lapsuus (fi)
• French: enfance (fr) f
• Georgian: ბავშვობა (bavšvoba)
• German: Kindheit (de) f, Kinderzeit (de) f

  East Central German: Kindhaat (Erzgebirgisch)

• Greek: παιδική ηλικία f (paidikí ilikía)
• Hebrew: יַלְדוּת (he) f (yaldút)
• Hindi: बचपन (hi) m (bacpan)
• Hungarian: gyermekkor (hu)
• Icelandic: barnæska (is) f
• Italian: infanzia (it) f
• Japanese: 子供時代 (kodomo jidai), 幼年時代 (ようねんじだい, yōnen jidai)
• Kazakh: балалық шақ (balalyq şaq), балалық (balalyq)
• Khmer: កុមារភាព (km) (komaaphiəp), តំណូច (km) (tɑmnouc)
• Korean: 유년 시대 (yunyeon sidae), 어린 시절 (eorin sijeol)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: مناڵی (mnallî)

  Northern Kurdish: zarokî (ku), zarotî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: балалык (ky) (balalık), балалык чак (balalık cak)
• Ladino: chikez f
• Lao: ໄວເດັກ (wai dek)
• Latvian: bērnība f
• Lithuanian: vaikystė f
• Macedonian: детство n (detstvo), детинство n (detinstvo)
• Malayalam: കുട്ടിക്കാലം (ml) (kuṭṭikkālaṁ)
• Maltese: tfulija f
• Maori: whanaketanga, hokoitinga
• Marathi: लहानपण n (lahānpaṇ), बालपण n (bālpaṇ), बाल्य n (bālya)
• Middle English: childhode
• Northern Sami: mánnávuohta
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: barndom (no) m, barndomstid m or f

  Nynorsk: barndom m, barndomstid f

• Old Norse: barnǿska f
• Pannonian Rusyn: дзецинство n (dzecinstvo)
• Pashto: ماشومتوب m (māšumtób), طفلي f (teflí), طفوليت m (tofulyát)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: بَچِگی (bačegi), کودَکی (kudaki)

• Polish: dzieciństwo (pl) n
• Portuguese: infância (pt) f
• Romanian: copilărie (ro) f
• Russian: де́тство (ru) n (détstvo), о́трочество (ru) n (ótročestvo) (adolescence)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дѐтӣњство n, дјѐтӣњство n, ђѐтӣњство n (Montenegrin)

  Roman: dètīnjstvo (sh) n, djètīnjstvo (sh), đètīnjstvo n (Montenegrin)

• Slovak: detstvo n
• Slovene: otroštvo (sl) n, detinstvo n
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: dźěćatstwo (hsb) n

• Spanish: infancia (es) f, niñez (es) f
• Swahili: utoto (sw)
• Swedish: barndom (sv) c
• Tajik: бачагӣ (bačagi), кӯдакӣ (küdaki)
• Telugu: బాల్యం (te) (bālyaṁ)
• Thai: วัยเด็ก (th) (wai-dèk)
• Turkish: çocukluk (tr)
• Turkmen: çagalyk, oğlanlyk
• Ukrainian: дити́нство (uk) n (dytýnstvo)
• Urdu: بَچْپَن m (bacpan)
• Uzbek: bolalik (uz)
• Vietnamese: tuổi thơ (vi)
• Volapük: cilüp (vo)
• Welsh: plentyndod m
• Yiddish: קינדשאַפֿט f (kindshaft), קינדעריאָרן n pl (kinderyorn)
• Zazaki: domaniye f
• Zulu: ubungane class 14, ubuntwana class 14

early stages of development of something

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 初時 / 初时 (co¹ si⁴), 開頭 / 开头 (hoi¹ tau⁴), 初段 (co¹ dyun⁶), 初頭 / 初头 (co¹ tau⁴), 開初 / 开初 (hoi¹ co¹), 早期 (zou² kei⁴)

  Mandarin: 初期 (zh) (chūqī), 起步階段 / 起步阶段 (qǐbù jiēduàn)

• Finnish: lapsuus (fi)
• German: Kindheit (de) f, Anfangszeit (de) f, Frühzeit (de) f, Jugend (de) f, Kinderzeit (de) f
• Greek: πρώτα στάδια n (próta stádia), παιδική ηλικία f (paidikí ilikía)
• Hungarian: gyerekcipőben jár, kezdeti szakasz, korai szakasz
• Japanese: 初期 (ja) (しょ​き, shoki)
• Korean: 초기(初期) (ko) (chogi)
• Latvian: bērnība f
• Macedonian: детство n (detstvo)
• Portuguese: infância (pt) f
• Russian: де́тство (ru) n (détstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дѐтӣњство n, дјѐтӣњство n, ђѐтӣњство n (Montenegrin)

  Roman: dètīnjstvo (sh) n, djètīnjstvo (sh), đètīnjstvo n (Montenegrin)

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

Translations to be checked

See also

• childhood on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Middle English

Noun

childhood

1. Alternative form of childhode