childhood

Etymology

From Middle English childhode, childhod, from Old English ċildhād (“childhood”), equivalent to child + -hood. Compare dialectal Dutch kindheid (“childishness”), German Low German Kinnerheid (“childhood”), and German Kindheit (“childhood”).

noun

1. (chiefly uncountable) The state of being a child.
   To our own surprise, our 40-year study of 1,000 children revealed that childhood self-control strongly predicts adult success, in people of high or low intelligence, in rich or poor, and does so throughout the entire population, with a step change in health, wealth, and social success at every level of self-control. 2013 September-October, Terrie Moffitt et al., “Lifelong Impact of Early Self-Control”, in American Scientist
2. The time during which one is a child, from between infancy and puberty.
   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. 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess
3. (by extension) The early stages of development of something.