childlike

Etymology

It is formed from English child + -like.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the earlier childly and childish.^[2] The base noun is from Old English cild (“fetus, infant”).^[4] An earlier compound, child-gered (“boyish, light-hearted”), occurs in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (about 1380).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adverb, like a child, in a childlike manner: 1576, in R. Edwards's Paradyse of Daynty Deuises.^[2] As an adjective, like or characteristic of a child: 1577, in a translation of Bullinger's sermons.^[2][3] Etymonline dates the adjective to the 1580s, in the sense "proper to a child",^[4] and Dictionary.com to 1580–90.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1582 to 1767 the adjective was used of duty or respect owed by a child to its parents, that is, filial.^[2][6] Johnson (1755) defined it as becoming or befitting a child and quoted Hooker on "childlike obedience" and Shakespeare on "childlike duty".^[7] The approving sense "like a child" in innocence or trust, as distinct from childish, is dated by Etymonline from 1738.^[4] The Century Dictionary of 1897, quoted by Etymonline, says that childlike marks what deserves approval or at least no blame, and childish usually what does not.^[4]

Timeline

• 1576 – adverb, like a child.^[2][6]
• 1577 – adjective, like that of a child; characteristic of a child.^[2][3]
• 1582 – of duty or respect, befitting a child towards its parents; filial (obsolete by 1767).^[2][6]
• 1738 – like a child in a good sense, as distinct from childish.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Like or befitting a child, especially in being innocent, trusting or candid: a childlike delight in snow.^[8][3][9][5]
2. Of, relating to or having the characteristics of a child or childhood.^[3][2]
3. (obsolete, 1582–1767) Of duty or obedience: owed by a child to its parents; filial.^[2][7]

Adverb

1. In the manner of a child.^[3][2]

Word family

• childlikeness
• unchildlike

Related words

• childish
• childly

Usage notes

Childlike is usually approving, describing qualities such as innocence or trust, while childish is usually disapproving, describing behaviour unsuited to an adult.^[4][9][5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
7. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins