childhood

childhood — noun

1. The years of a person's life from birth to the early teenage period, before they

1.nounB1
Definition

The years of a person's life from birth to the early teenage period, before they become an adult.

Example

Priya has happy memories of her childhood in a small village by the sea.

collocation: memories of childhood

During his childhood, Theo lived in three different countries because of his father's job.

preposition: during childhood

Common collocations
  • happy / difficult / lonely childhood
  • childhood memories / friends / home / illness / dream
  • in / during / since / throughout childhood
  • early / late childhood
Synonyms
  • youth

    wider in scope, often includes teenage and young adult years; less specific to early life

  • infancy

    only the very first years (birth to ~age 2); much narrower than childhood

  • adolescence

    the teenage years only; focuses on the transition between childhood and adulthood

Antonyms
  • adulthood

    the stage of life after childhood, when a person is fully grown

Grammar Patterns

in/during/since + childhood

childhood + noun (childhood memories / childhood friends / childhood home)

a/an + adjective + childhood

Usage Note

When childhood is described with an adjective, it usually takes the article a or an (e.g., 'a happy childhood,' 'a difficult childhood'). In this pattern, childhood behaves like a countable noun. Without an adjective, it remains uncountable: 'Childhood is a time of learning.'

Common Mistakes

I had happy childhood in the countryside.
I had a happy childhood in the countryside.
When childhood follows an adjective, an article is needed.
Childhoods are important for development.
Childhood is important for development.
Childhood is uncountable and does not normally appear in plural form.
Idioms

second childhood

idiom

A period in old age when a person starts behaving like a child again, often because of illness or a decline in mental abilities.

After his stroke, Grandpa seemed to be in his second childhood — he spent hours playing with toy cars and watching cartoons.

a/somebody’s second childhood

idiom

A period when an older adult starts acting like a child again.

Grandpa bought a toy train set during his second childhood.

Is Uncle Joe having a second childhood with all those video games?

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Childhood, youth, infancy, and adolescence all name early stages of life, but each covers a different span. Childhood runs from birth to about age 12 or 13 — the years when a person is dependent on adults and learning basic life skills. Infancy is much narrower, referring only to the first one or two years. Youth stretches further, often including the teenage years and sometimes young adulthood. Adolescence sits between childhood and adulthood, roughly ages 13 to 19, and emphasizes the physical and emotional changes of puberty. A concrete contrast: 'She had a difficult childhood but found her confidence during adolescence' — here childhood covers the dependent early years, while adolescence marks the transition toward independence.

youth ↗infancyadolescence

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • at childhood
  • into childhood

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Childhood comes from Old English cildhad, made up of cild (child) and -had (state or condition). The word has been part of English since around the 900s and is related to German Kindheit.