childhood

American  

[chahyld-hood] / ˈtʃaɪld hʊd /

noun

childhoods plural

1. the state or period of being a child.

   Synonyms:

   girlhood, boyhood, youth

2. the early stage in the existence of something.

   the childhood of the human race.

---

childhood British  

/ ˈtʃaɪldhʊd /

noun

1. the condition of being a child; the period of life before puberty

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prechildhood
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• childhoods
  plural

Etymology

Origin of childhood

before 950; Middle English childhode, Old English cildhād. See child, -hood

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

childhood childhoods

Baniamerian was from childhood "a kind and humble person", his relative said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026

Taking a novelist’s care with his protagonists, Mr. Aris shows how they developed starkly different personalities from childhood wounds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

The recipes are interspersed with stories from Kwon’s childhood in the store and illustrated spreads devoted to ingredients such as seaweed and tofu, explaining their varieties, particular virtues and best uses.

From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026

Whiley reflected on her father's childhood, stating it was "as sad as it gets".

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

He’d blamed it for most of the bad parts of his childhood, for the death of his own father.

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray

As if their unconventional childhoods weren’t troubled enough, Asa and Yuru’s twinship comes with another heavy burden: saving the world.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

Over one-third of American children and a staggering 53 percent of Black children will be subjected to a child protective services investigation at some point in their childhoods.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026

Rothwell's role in Coronation Street had been written with him in mind - as the creator Tony Warren had worked with him during their childhoods on BBC Radio's Children's Hour.

From BBC ● May 14, 2026

Mr. Windolf, a journalist, begins by detailing how similar his subjects’ childhoods were.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026

Yet his siblings, with the same parents and same unsettled childhoods, followed a more conventional path in adulthood.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French