English
childhood
Childhood comes from Middle English childhode, from Old English ċildhād (ċild ‘child’ + -hād ‘state, condition’); ċild is from Proto-Germanic *kelþaz ‘womb’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kelþaz‘womb’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kilþreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ċild‘child’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150ċildhād
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500childhode‘the time during which one is a child’
- Englishearliest quotation 1531childhood
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kelþaz‘womb’reconstructed
- Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kilþreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150ċild‘child’
- Old English, derivedc. 450–1150ċildhād
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500childhode‘the time during which one is a child’
- Englishearliest quotation 1531childhood
Earliest quotation: 1531, John Bourchier: “Of a ſuretie, it is a ioyfull thynge to…”
Equivalent to child + -hood
Proto-Indo-European *ǵelt- ‘womb’
Proto-Germanic *kelþaz ‘womb’
Proto-West Germanic *kilþ
Old English ċild
Middle English child ‘a child’
English child
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘to ball up, amass’
clean, cold, cloud, globe, cluster, gel, jelly, chill, clout, clot, gelatin, clough, gelato, glebe, ganglion, globus, klutz, globulin, clod, 46 more
through Proto-Indo-European *gelt-
through Old English ċild ‘child’
Today it means
noun The state of being a child.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *kelþaz / childhood