toddler

English

Etymology

From toddle (“to walk unsteadily”) +‎ -er – literally “one who walks unsteadily”, hence a young child.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɑdlɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɒdlə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tod‧dler

Noun

toddler (plural toddlers)

1. A young child who has started walking but not fully mastered it, typically between one and three years old.

   I can't believe Vanessa's baby is now a toddler already!

   • 1981 October 21, Joan Weiss, Your Second Child, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 250:

     One inexpensive possibility is to purchase a toddler seat that can be placed on your current carriage. There are seats especially designed for that purpose, with seat belts and all. Some toddlers enjoy their high perch, but safety is a concern with these seats.

2. One unsteady on their feet.
   • 1868, John Richard Houlding, Australian Tales: And Sketches from Real Life, S. Low, Son, and Marston, page 65:

     He is sixty-five years old if he is a fortnight, while the girl has only just done with her dolls,and hos no more love for the toothless old toddler than I have for Mammy Wombat, the black gin.

Derived terms

• toddler seat
• toddlercon
• toddlerhood
• toddlekins

Translations

young child who has started walking but not fully mastered it

• Arabic: طِفْل دَارِج m (ṭifl dārij)

  Egyptian Arabic: طفل بيحبى m (ṭefl beyéḥbi)

• Belarusian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: прохождащо дете n (prohoždašto dete)
• Catalan: nen (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 幼兒 / 幼儿 (zh) (yòu'ér), 小孩 (zh) (xiǎohái), 小孩子 (zh) (xiǎoháizi), 小孩兒 / 小孩儿 (zh) (xiǎoháir), 学步期儿童

• Czech: batole (cs) n
• Danish: småbarn n
• Dutch: peuter (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: etulo (eo)
• Finnish: taapero (fi)
• French: bambin (fr) m, bambine (fr) f, bébé (fr) m or f
• Galician: meniño (gl) m, meniña (gl) f
• German: Kleinkind (de) n, Hosenmatz (de) m (informally), Knirps (de) m, Dreikäsehoch (de) m (humorous)
• Greek: νήπιο (el) n (nípio)
• Hebrew: פעוט (he) m, זאטוט (he) m
• Hungarian: tipegő (hu)
• Icelandic: smábarn (is) n
• Indonesian: (anak) balita
• Irish: imeachtaí linbh m, lapadán m
• Italian: bambino (it) m, bambina (it) f, piccolo (it) m, piccola (it) f, trotterellino (it) m, trottolino (it) m
• Japanese: 幼児 (ja) (ようじ, yōji), 子供 (ja) (こども, kodomo)
• Korean: 유아(幼兒) (ko) (yua)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: نۆپێچکە (nopêçke), پێڕەوکە (pêrrewke), پێخولە (pêxule)

• Maori: kōhungahunga
• Norwegian: tulle (no)

  Bokmål: småbarn n

  Nynorsk: småbarn n

• Persian: نوپا (fa) (novpâ)
• Polish: maluch (pl) m, maluszek (pl) m
• Portuguese: criancinha f, bebê (pt) m or f
• Romanian: copil mic (ro) m
• Russian: ребёнок (ru) m (rebjónok) (начина́ющий ходи́ть), карапу́з (ru) m (karapúz) (colloquial), то́ддлер m (tóddler) (neologism), ползуно́к (ru) m (polzunók, literally “crawler”), малы́ш (ru) m (malýš), малы́шка (ru) f (malýška)
• Serbo-Croatian: hodonče n
• Spanish: niñito (es) m, nené (es) m or f, nene (es) m, infante (es) m, chiquilín (es) m, chipilín m, chiwchi (es) m or f
• Swedish: småbarn (sv) n
• Ukrainian: немовля́ (nemovljá), малю́к (maljúk)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: plentyn bach m
• West Frisian: beuker n
• Yoruba: ọmọ àfànítẹ̀ẹ̀tẹ́
• Zulu: ingane (zu) class 9/10