children

chil·dren
C3H4I1L1D2R1E1N1
Australia, New Zealand, UK, US/ˈt͡ʃɪldɹən//ˈtʃɪl.ɹən//ˈtʃɪl.ə(ɹ)n/Australia, New Zealand, UK, dialectal/ˈt͡ʃʊldɹən/

proper noun

A surname.

Very commonScrabble 14

Meanings

children1

noun

alternative childer · alternative nonstandard rare childs · alternative pronunciation spelling chillen · alternative pronunciation spelling chillun · alternative pronunciation spelling chirren

  1. 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
  2. pluralplural of childer

Children2

proper noun

Synonyms & antonyms

Origin

  1. Old Englishċildru
  2. Middle Englishchildren
  3. 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.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

children. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/children

MLA

“children.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/children. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “children,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/children.

Source: children on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.