childhood
//ˈtʃaɪld.hʊd//
Forms
- Plural
- childhoods
Definitions
1.The state of being a child.
- I had a pretty happy childhood.
2.The time during which one is a child, from between infancy and puberty.
- 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.
3.The early stages of development of something.
- I had a pretty happy childhood.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2346
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Word family
Etymology
From Middle English childhode, childhod, from Old English ċildhād (“childhood”).
By surface analysis, child + -hood.
Compare dialectal Dutch kindheid (“childishness”), German Low German Kinnerheid (“childhood”), and German Kindheit (“childhood”).