From Middle English childhode, childhod, from Old English ċildhād, equivalent to .

• IPA: /ˈt͡ʃaɪldhʊd/

childhood

1. (mostly, uncountable) The state of being a child.
2. The time during which one is a child, from between infancy and puberty.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗:

     He stood transfixed before the unaccustomed view of London at night time, a vast panorama which reminded him […] of some wood engravings far off and magical, in a printshop in his childhood.

3. (by extension) The early stages of development of something.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene iii]:

     the childhood of our joy

• French: enfance
• German: Kindheit, Kindschaft
• Italian: infanzia
• Portuguese: infância
• Russian: де́тство
• Spanish: infancia

• French: enfance
• German: Kindheit, Kinderzeit
• Italian: infanzia
• Portuguese: infância
• Russian: де́тство
• Spanish: infancia, niñez

• German: Kindheit, Anfangszeit, Frühzeit, Jugend, Kinderzeit
• Portuguese: infância
• Russian: де́тство