Etymology

childing

child·ing
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Today it means: Able to bear children; fertile; also, pregnant, or in the process of childbirth, or having just given birth to a child. Full definition →

Middle English childynge
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childing · noun1

  1. Middle English · inherited fromchildynge
  2. English todaychilding

From Middle English childynge, childinge [and other forms], from childen (“to give birth to a child”) + -ynge, -ynge (suffix forming gerunds from verbs). Equivalent to child + -ing.

childing · adjective, verb2

  1. Middle English · inherited fromchildynge“pregnant”
  2. English todaychilding

From late Middle English childynge (“pregnant”), from childen (“to give birth to a child”) + -ing, -inge (suffix forming the present participles of verbs, which were often used as adjectives); equivalent to child (verb) + -ing (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having a specified characteristic, nature, or quality’, and forming the present participles of verbs).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.