English

child

/tʃaɪld/
A person who has not yet reached adulthood, whether natural (puberty), cultural (initiation), or legal (majority).

    Etymology graph

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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    From Middle English child, from Old English ċild, from Proto-West Germanic *kilþ, *kelþ, from Proto-Germanic *kelþaz (“womb; fetus”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵelt- (“womb”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, amass”).

    Cognate with Danish kuld (“brood, litter”), Swedish kull (“brood, litter”), Icelandic kelta, kjalta (“lap”), Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹 (kilþei, “womb”), Sanskrit जर्त (jarta), जर्तु (jártu, “vulva”).

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English childen, from the noun child.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishchild
      • inheritedOld Englishċild “child”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*kilþ
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*kelþaz “womb; fetus”
            • derivedProto-Indo-European*ǵelt- “womb”
              • derivedProto-Indo-European*gel- “to ball up, amass”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishchilden

    Related: Danish kuld, Swedish kull, Icelandic kelta, Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹, Sanskrit जर्त

    Words built on it: man child

    Sources