The story
- Old English · inherited fromċildhād“childhood”
- Middle English · inherited fromchildhode
- English todaychildhood
From Middle English childhode, childhod, from Old English ċildhād (“childhood”). By surface analysis, child + -hood. Compare dialectal Dutch kindheid (“childishness”), German Low German Kinnerheid (“childhood”), and German Kindheit (“childhood”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.