Meanings
- idiomaticuncountableSomething particularly easy or simple.
Compared to my last job, this is child’s play.
5 more examples
The brawny craftsman finds it no child's play to mould his unpliant rugged masses; neither is guidance of men a dilettantism: what it becomes when treated as a dilettantism, we may see!
1839 (indicated as 1840), Thomas Carlyle, “Laissez-Faire”, in Chartism, London: James Fraser, […], →OCLC, pages 52–53In every county there were elderly gentlemen who had seen service which was no child's play.
1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 322He'd pull his bars apart like bow and bow-string, / And let them go and make them twang until / His hands had worn them smooth as any ox-bow. / And then he'd crow as if he thought that child's play— / The only fun he had.
1914, Robert Frost, “A Servant to Servants”, in North of Boston, London: David Nutt […], →OCLC, page 74I knew something of the railway engineer's uncanny genius for finding a path through such barriers if any path existed; yet I also knew the path would be no child's play.
1949 January–February, F. G. Roe, “I Saw Three Englands–1”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11It's just as quick out of the blocks. The five-car unit has three engines, giving it 2,820hp to play with, so the once-'feared' Devon banks of Hemerdon, Rattery and Dainton are child's play to these trains.
2025 November 12, 'Mystery Shopper', “Is Devon the cream of the crop?”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 48Synonyms: kid stuff, piece of cake
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSomething particularly easy or simple.
More synonyms by meaning
nounany undertaking that is easy to do
nounactivity by children that is guided more by imagination than by fixed rules
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From child + -’s + play, originally referring literally to play by a child.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek παιδιή
- παιδιή (paidiḗ)something particularly easy or simple
Chinese Cantonese 兒戲 /儿戏
- 兒戲 /儿戏something particularly easy or simple
Chinese Mandarin 兒戲 /儿戏, 如同兒戲 /如同儿戏
- 兒戲 /儿戏 (érxì)something particularly easy or simple
- 如同兒戲 /如同儿戏 (rútóng'érxì)something particularly easy or simple
- 很容易的事 (hěn róngyì de shì)something particularly easy or simple
- 小兒科 /小儿科 (xiǎo'érkē)something particularly easy or simple
Dutch kinderspel
- kinderspelsomething particularly easy or simple
Esperanto infana ludo
- infana ludosomething particularly easy or simple
Finnish lastenleikki
- lastenleikkisomething particularly easy or simple
French jeu d'enfant
- jeu d'enfantsomething particularly easy or simple
German Kinderspiel, Spaziergang
- Kinderspielsomething particularly easy or simple
- Spaziergangsomething particularly easy or simple
Hindi बच्चों का खेल
- बच्चों का खेल (baccõ kā khel)something particularly easy or simple
Hungarian gyerekjáték
- gyerekjátéksomething particularly easy or simple
Icelandic barnaleikur, auðveldur
- barnaleikursomething particularly easy or simple
- auðveldursomething particularly easy or simple
- innanhandarsomething particularly easy or simple
- leika sér aðsomething particularly easy or simple
- leikursomething particularly easy or simple
Italian gioco da bambini, gioco da ragazzi
- gioco da bambinisomething particularly easy or simple
- gioco da ragazzisomething particularly easy or simple
Japanese 朝飯前のこと, 児戯
- 朝飯前のこと (asameshimae-no koto)something particularly easy or simple
- 児戯 (jigi)something particularly easy or simple
- お茶の子 (o-cha-no ko)something particularly easy or simple
Norwegian Bokmål barnemat
- barnematsomething particularly easy or simple
Polish dziecinada, pikuś
- dziecinadasomething particularly easy or simple
- pikuśsomething particularly easy or simple
Portuguese brincadeira de criança
- brincadeira de criançasomething particularly easy or simple
Romanian joacă de copil
- joacă de copilsomething particularly easy or simple
Russian игру́шки, пустяки́
- игру́шки (igrúški)something particularly easy or simple
- пустяки́ (pustjakí)something particularly easy or simple
- се́мечки (sémečki)something particularly easy or simple
Spanish juego de niños, pan comido
- juego de niñossomething particularly easy or simple
- pan comidosomething particularly easy or simple
- una papasomething particularly easy or simple
Swedish barnlek
- barnleksomething particularly easy or simple
Turkish çocuk oyuncağı
- çocuk oyuncağısomething particularly easy or simple
Urdu بازِیچَۂ اَطْفَال
- بازِیچَۂ اَطْفَال (bāzīca-yi atfāl)something particularly easy or simple
Welsh chwarae bach
- chwarae bachsomething particularly easy or simple
Cite this entry
child's play. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/child's%20play
“child's play.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/child's%20play. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “child's play,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/child's%20play.
Source: child's play on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.