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child

(chīld)

n. pl. chil·dren(chĭldrən)

a. A person between birth and puberty.

b. A person who has not attained maturity or the age of legal majority.

a. An unborn infant; a fetus.

b. An infant; a baby.

3. One who is childish or immature.

4. Someone to whom a specified person is a parent.

5. A member of a tribe; descendant: children of Abraham.

a. An individual regarded as strongly affected by another or by a specified time, place, or circumstance: a child of nature; a child of the Sixties.

b. A product or result of something specified: “Times Square is a child of the 20th century” (Richard F. Shepard).

Idiom:

with child

Pregnant.

[Middle English, from Old English cild.]

childless adj.

childless·ness n.

Child, Lydia Maria Francis 1802-1880.

American abolitionist and writer of novels, children's books, and reform works, such as An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans (1833).

Child

(chīld), Julia McWilliams 1912-2004.

American cookery expert known for her books and her instructional television and video series.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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