child

English Online Dictionary. What means child‎? What does child mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: chīld, IPA^(key): /t͡ʃaɪld/, [t͡ʃaɪ̯ɫd], [ˈt͡ʃaɪ̯.ɫ̩d]
• (Canada, dialectal) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃəɪ̯(ə)ɫd]
• Rhymes: -aɪld

Etymology 1

From Middle English child, from Old English ċild, from Proto-West Germanic *kilþ, *kelþ, from Proto-Germanic *kelþaz (“womb; fetus”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵelt- (“womb”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, amass”).

Cognate with Danish kuld (“brood, litter”), Swedish kull (“brood, litter”), Icelandic kelta, kjalta (“lap”), Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹 (kilþei, “womb”), Sanskrit जर्त (jarta), जर्तु (jártu, “vulva”).

Alternative forms

• childe (archaic)
• chile (eye dialect, Southern US)
• (plural): childrens (intentionally incorrect, nonstandard); childs (nonstandard, rare)

Noun

child (plural children or (dialectal or archaic) childer)

2. (broadly) A person who has not yet reached adulthood, whether natural (puberty), cultural (initiation), or legal (majority).

   Synonym: kid

   Hyponyms: newborn, neonate, preteen, adolescent, tweenager, teenager, tween, teen, preadult

   • 2003 Powerpuff Girls: 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas (narration)
   2. (pediatrics, sometimes, in a stricter sense) A youth aged 1 to 9 years, whereas neonates are aged 0 to 1 month, infants are aged 1 to 12 months, and adolescents are aged 10 to 20 years.

      Hypernym: kid

      Coordinate terms: newborn, neonate, infant, adolescent, teenager, teen

4. (with possessive) One's direct descendant by birth, regardless of age; one's offspring; a son or daughter.

6. (cartomancy) The thirteenth Lenormand card.
8. (figurative) A figurative offspring, particularly:
   1. A person considered a product of a place or culture, a member of a tribe or culture, regardless of age.
   3. Anything derived from or caused by something.
   5. (computing) A data item, process, or object which has a subservient or derivative role relative to another.
10. Alternative form of childe (“youth of noble birth”)
12. (mathematics, programming) A subordinate node of a tree.
14. (obsolete, specifically) A female child, a girl.

Synonyms

• (young person): See Thesaurus:child, Thesaurus:boy, and Thesaurus:girl
• (offspring): See offspring and Thesaurus:son and Thesaurus:daughter, binary clone, progeny, hybrid
• (descendant): See descendant
• (product of a place or era): product, son (male), daughter (female)

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “offspring”): father, mother, parent
• (antonym(s) of “person below the age of adulthood”): adult
• (antonym(s) of “data item, process or object in a subordinate role”): parent

Derived terms

Related terms

• chield
• Child
• childe
• Childermas

Translations

See also

• orling

Etymology 2

From Middle English childen, from the noun child.

Verb

child (third-person singular simple present childs, present participle childing, simple past and past participle childed)

1. (archaic, ambitransitive) To give birth; to beget or procreate.

Translations

Further reading

• Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary (accessed November 2007).
• American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company (2003).

Middle English

Alternative forms

• chyld, chylde, childe, chelde, cild

Etymology

From Old English ċild, from Proto-Germanic *kelþaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃiːld/

Noun

child (plural children or childre or child or childres, dative childe)

1. A baby, infant, toddler; a person in infancy.
2. A child, kid; a young person.
3. An offspring, one of one's progeny.
4. A childish or stupid individual.
5. (Christianity) The Christ child; Jesus as a child.
6. (figurative) A member of a creed (usually with the religion in the genitive preposing it)
7. A young male, especially one employed as an hireling.
8. A young noble training to become a knight; a squire or childe.
9. The young of animals or plants.
10. A material as a result or outcome.

Related terms

Descendants

• English: child
• Scots: child; chield

References

• “chīld, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.