Meanings
children1
alternative childer · alternative nonstandard rare childs · alternative pronunciation spelling chillen · alternative pronunciation spelling chillun · alternative pronunciation spelling chirren
- pluralplural of child
1 more example
Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, “Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18 - pluralplural of childer
Children2
- A surname.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Old Englishċildru
- Middle Englishchildren
- Englishchildren
From Middle English children, alteration of earlier childre ("children"; > English dialectal childer), from Old English ċildru, ċildra (“children”), nominative and accusative plural of ċild (“child”), equivalent to child + -ren.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
children. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/children
“children.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/children. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “children,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/children.
Source: children on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.