CHILD (children)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: children   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does child mean? 

• CHILD (noun)
  The noun CHILD has 4 senses:

1. a young person of either sex

2. a human offspring (son or daughter) of any age

3. an immature childish person

4. a member of a clan or tribe

  Familiarity information: CHILD used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHILD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A young person of either sex

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

child; fry; kid; minor; nestling; nipper; shaver; small fry; tiddler; tike; tyke; youngster

Context example:

'tiddler' is a British term for youngster

Hypernyms ("child" is a kind of...):

juvenile; juvenile person (a young person, not fully developed)

Meronyms (parts of "child"):

child's body (the body of a human child)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "child"):

buster (a robust child)

street child; waif (a homeless child especially one forsaken or orphaned)

urchin (poor and often mischievous city child)

bambino; toddler; tot; yearling (a young child)

sprog (a child)

silly (a word used for misbehaving children)

kindergartener; kindergartner; preschooler (a child who attends a preschool or kindergarten)

poster child (a child afflicted by some disease or deformity whose picture is used on posters to raise money for charitable purposes)

picaninny; piccaninny; pickaninny ((ethnic slur) offensive term for a Black child)

peanut (a young child who is small for his age)

orphan (a child who has lost both parents)

kiddie; kiddy (informal term for a young child)

imp; monkey; rapscallion; rascal; scalawag; scallywag; scamp (one who is playfully mischievous)

foster-child; foster child; fosterling (a child who is raised by foster parents)

child prodigy; infant prodigy; wonder child (a prodigy whose talents are recognized at an early age)

changeling (a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy)

bairn (a child: son or daughter)

Derivation:

childhood (the state of a child between infancy and adolescence)

childhood (the time of person's life when they are a child)

childly (befitting a young child)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A human offspring (son or daughter) of any age

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

child; kid

Context example:

they were able to send their kids to college

Hypernyms ("child" is a kind of...):

issue; offspring; progeny (the immediate descendants of a person)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "child"):

army brat (the child of a career officer of the United States Army)

babe; baby; infant (a very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk)

female offspring (a child who is female)

male offspring; man-child (a child who is male)

stepchild (a child of your spouse by a former marriage)

Holonyms ("child" is a member of...):

family; family unit (primary social group; parents and children)

Antonym:

parent (a father or mother; one who begets or one who gives birth to or nurtures and raises a child; a relative who plays the role of guardian)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An immature childish person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

baby; child

Context example:

stop being a baby!

Hypernyms ("child" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Derivation:

childhood (the state of a child between infancy and adolescence)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A member of a clan or tribe

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Context example:

the children of Israel

Hypernyms ("child" is a kind of...):

descendant; descendent (a person considered as descended from some ancestor)

 Context examples 

“Davy, my pretty boy! My poor child!”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then the King and Queen flew home to their children and cried: “Children, rejoice, eat and drink to your heart’s content, we have won the battle!”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

She let her legs go limp like a spoiled child, and sat down on the trail.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

If my ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a half-smothered child.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The child did not know this, and was full of fear for herself and Toto.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

There was something so imperative and masterful about him that I was quite beside myself—“rattled,” as Furuseth would have termed it, like a quaking child before a stern school-master.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

They both died when Laurie was a little child, and then his grandfather took him home.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"This is the first study to compare a vibrating cold device to topical lidocaine in reducing the pain and distress experienced by children during IV insertion," said study leader Debra A. Potts.

(Better IV Insertion Device, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The researchers will continue to follow the children to determine if protection against peanut allergy remains once children stop consuming peanut products.

(Peanut Consumption in Infancy Lowers Peanut Allergy, NIH)

The new pill dissolves in the mouth and in the water, and is expected to be more easily accepted by children.

(New HIV medicine under development for children in Brazil, Agência Brasil/EBC)