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
Noun
childhood (countable and uncountable, plural childhoods)
- (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.
- The time during which one is a child, from between infancy and puberty.
1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess[1]: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.
- (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
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)
- 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 f, nenez f
- Georgian: ბავშვობა (bavšvoba)
- German: Kindheit (de) f, Kindschaft f
- 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: 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
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: бага нас (baga nas)
- Mongolian: ᠪᠠᠭᠠ
ᠨᠠᠰᠤ (bag-a nasu)
- Northern Sami: mánnávuohta
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: barndom (no) m
- Nynorsk: barndom m
- Old English: ċildhād m
- Pali: bālya n
- Persian: بچگی (fa) (bačegi), کودکی (fa) (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 (wai-dèk)
- Turkish: çocukluk (tr)
- Ukrainian: дити́нство n (dytýnstvo)
- Urdu: بچپن m (bacpan)
- Volapük: cilüp (vo)
- Welsh: plentyndod m
- Zulu: ubungane class 14, ubuntwana class 14
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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 (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
- Middle English: childhode
- Northern Sami: mánnávuohta
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: barndom (no) m, barndomstid m or f
- Nynorsk: barndom m, barndomstid f
- Old Norse: barnǿska f
- Pashto: ماشومتوب m (māšumtób), طفلي f (teflí), طفوليت m (tofulyát)
- Persian: بچگی (fa) (bačegi), کودکی (fa) (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 (wai-dèk)
- Turkish: çocukluk (tr)
- Turkmen: çagalyk, oğlanlyk
- Ukrainian: дити́нство n (dytýnstvo)
- Urdu: بچپن 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
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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)
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Translations to be checked
See also
Middle English
Noun
childhood
- Alternative form of childhode