# 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: /ˈt͡ʃaɪldhʊd/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪldhʊd
* Hyphenation: child‧hood

### 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: 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.
* (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

Aghwan: 𐕘𐔰𐕙𐔴𐕒𐕡𐕎 (ġareun)
Albanian: fëmijëri (sq) f
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 (tung$^4$ nin$^4$), 幼年 (jau$^3$ nin$^4$)
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), बालपन (hi) m (bālpan), बालअवस्था f (bālaavasthā)
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 :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### See also

* childhood on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

## Middle English
### Noun

childhood
* Alternative form of childhode