# child

> English word · Noun · IPA /tʃaɪld/ · frequency rank #500

## Definitions
1. A person who has not yet reached adulthood, whether natural (puberty), cultural (initiation), or legal (majority).
2. A person who has not yet reached adulthood, whether natural (puberty), cultural (initiation), or legal (majority).
3. One's direct descendant by birth, regardless of age; one's offspring; a son or daughter.
4. The thirteenth Lenormand card.
5. A figurative offspring
6. A figurative offspring
7. A figurative offspring
8. Alternative form of childe (“youth of noble birth”).
9. A subordinate node of a tree.
10. An adult or adolescent with childish or stupid behaviors.
11. A female child, a girl.

## Etymology
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”).

## Easily confused with
- **CID** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-cid)
- **cold** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-cold)
- **chip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chip)
- **chin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chin)
- **coil** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-coil)
- **chit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chit)
- **Chiu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chiu)
- **could** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-could)
- **China** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-china)
- **chips** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chips)
- **cried** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-cried)
- **chill** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chill)
- **Chile** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chile)
- **chili** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chili)
- **chord** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chord)
- **ching** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-ching)
- **coils** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-coils)
- **chime** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chime)
- **chino** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chino)
- **chimp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/child-vs-chimp)

## Common misspellings (8)
`cchild`, `chhild`, `chidl`, `childd`, `chilld`, `chlid`, `cihld`, `hcild`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/child