child. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

child

PRONUNCIATION:	chld
NOUN:	Inflected forms: pl. chil·dren ( chldrn) 1. A person between birth and puberty. 2a. An unborn infant; a fetus. b. An infant; a baby. 3. One who is childish or immature. 4. A son or daughter; an offspring. 5. A member of a tribe; descendant: children of Abraham. 6a. 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.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English, from Old English cild.
OTHER FORMS:	childless —ADJECTIVE childless·ness —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.