Middle English Dictionary Entry

chīld n.
Quotations: Show all Hide all

Entry Info

Forms chīld n. Also (early) cild, chil, shild(e, sheld, (error) ched. Pl. (early) chīld; childre, -er(e, -ir(e, -ur, chelder, chulder; children, -eren, -erin, -ering, -eron, -ern, -irn; childres.
Etymology OE cild; pl. cild, cildru.

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

1.
(a) A young child, a baby; ~ infaunte, litel (smal, yong) ~, ; beren ~, to give birth; (b) an unborn child, a fetus; unborne ~; (c) ben (mid) with ~, gon with ~, to be pregnant; beren ~, to be able to conceive; casten ~, to give birth; abort.
Show 51 Quotations
2.
(a) The Christ Child; (b) Christ in any of his manifestations.
Show 11 Quotations
3a.
(a) A boy or girl (usually to the age of puberty); childes yeres, childhood; (b) in proverbs and prov.expressions: ~ unborn, brenned (lef, loth) ~, etc.
Show 55 Quotations
3b.
A schoolboy; a choirboy.
Show 11 Quotations
4.
(a) A child regarded as innocent or immature; (b) an immature, unwise, or foolish person; ~ of elde (of theues, of wit).
Show 18 Quotations
5.
(a) A young man; youth, lad; (b) a youth in service; an attendant, page, helper, apprentice; ~ of the chaumbre (halle, kichene, stable).
Show 23 Quotations
6.
(a) A youth of noble birth, esp. an aspirant to knighthood; also, a knight or warrior; cherl or ~; as a title: ~ Thopas, Horn ~, etc.; (b) in names.
Show 36 Quotations
7.
(a) A descendent (of particular parents), son or daughter; ouen ~, (one's) own child; also, an adopted child [cp. foster ~]; (b) pl. the offspring of a tribal ancestor or of a clan; children of Israel, Abrahames children, etc.; children fader, ancestor.
Show 48 Quotations
8.
(a) The young (of an animal); ben with ~, to be in calf, etc.; (b) of a tree: gon with ~, to come into bud.
Show 9 Quotations
9.
Theol. (a) A human being as created or adopted by God; a good Christian; Christes (Godes) ~, ~ of savacioun; (b) develes ~, a wicked or doomed person; ~ of deth (perdicioun).
Show 26 Quotations
10.
A spiritual or moral descendant; follower, disciple, or devotee (as of a religion, a cult, a prototype, a leader); gostli ~; ~ of light (of pride, of Venus, of Judas), etc.
Show 18 Quotations
11.
A derivative or product.
Show 5 Quotations
12.
Phrases: (a) childes ~, childres children, progeny; (b) childes game (pleie, pleiinge, child's play, a mere trifle; no childes pleie, a serious matter or encounter; (c) fro (of a) ~, from childhood; (d) of ~, of giving birth; pinen (travailen) of (on) ~, to be in labor; childes time, time of pregnancy or of giving birth.
Show 20 Quotations
13.
Combs. & cpds. (a) ~ king, a youth as king; ~ man, a youth; ~ womman, a handmaid; knave (maide) ~, male (female) child; (b) ~ biyetinge, procreation; ~ slawe [OE cild-slaga], one who murders children; ~ bed (berere, bering, birthe, ston, wif, wite), q.v.; (c) childrene scole, school for children; childer-massedai, children-ivel, q.v.; (d) child gered, having childish behavior,; ~-yong man, a youth; (e) as or in surnames: child(es) man, fair ~, etc.
Show 18 Quotations

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • a1225(c1200) Vices & V.(1) (Stw 34)85/21 : Ðis loc ðe ofrede Anna ðe was unberinde, and unwurð mang Israele folke; and hie was sone iherd, and hire biene ðu hire teiðedest, þat hie chilt moste habben and brohte forth ðine profiete Samuel.
    • Note: New form: Also..chilt.
    Note: Quot. belongs to sense 1.(a).
  • a1325(c1250) Gen.& Ex.(Corp-C 444)2624 : Iakabeð wente bliðe a-gen, Ðat ghe ðe gildes fostre muste ben.
    • Note: New form: (gen. sg.) gildes.
    Note: Quot. belongs to sense 1.(a).
  • a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)29b/a : Enitor: to sylde out sende.
    • Note: ?Is this the word.
    Note: New form: Also..(error) sylde.
    Note: Quot. belongs to sense 1.(a).
  • a1450 Dux Moraud (BodPoet f.2)114 : A! Aue I begotyn þis stownd A schyld so louely of þe; I am in sorows wownd, For care me most fle.
    • Note: Context: Dux Moraud's daughter presents him with their child.
    Note: Additional quot. for sense 1.(a).
  • a1484 De Coitu (Trin-C R.14.52)306/120 : If he be hote and drye, ther shal be litel seede of drynes, and grete dilectacioun whan he sendith out, chieldren..and grete appetite, and often into the wombe of chieldhod bien multiplied heris vnto the navil and vnto the myd mure or half wal, and lasse desiren to dryve.
    • Note: New form: Pl. chieldren.
    Note: Quot. belongs to sense 1.(a).
  • ?a1500 Lndsb.Nominale (Lndsb)751/1 : Hec munda, Hec matrix, Hec steria: a schyn that a schyld ys conseyvyd in.
    • Note: Quot. postdates sense 1.(b).
  • a1400(a1325) Cursor (Vsp A.3)11204 : Þan was sco gan sua forth..þat sco was at hir time o child [Trin-C: tyme of childe]..ihesu crist hir barn sco bar.
    • Note: New subsense for sense 1.
    Note: Gloss: "The act of giving birth to a child, childbearing, parturition."
  • (1406) Doc.Middx.in MELD ()reading/D4198#1 : Y the same John Osbarn' in the age of Syxtene wynter beyng .. a chyld att scole.
    • Note: Explanatory quot. for sense 3b.. Usefully specifies an exact age (16) at which one could still be considered a 'child.'
  • a1500 Siege Jerus.(2) (Brog 2.1)84/444 : They eete horse..and..dogis and..cyldorne, and þe stronggyr eete þe wekir.
    • Note: New form: Pl. cildorne.
    Note: Quot. belongs to sense 7.(a).
  • a1500(?1451) Poem Waynflete (Add 60577) : I beseche oure Lorde for Hys myche myght, And graunt yowe in heuene even þe same syght And to smelle the sauoure of euerlastynge flowres. Thus I beseche your lordeshyppe to be mery thys nyght And take thys lytyl braunche of a chylde of youres.
    • Note: ?Additional quot. for sense 10.
    Note: William Waynflete, bishop of Winchester, was elected to the see of Winchester after the death of Cardinal Beaufort. The poem commemorates this event, although no record of its being performed survives. Its author (as was its scribe) was probably a monk of St. Swithun's monastery in Winchester.
    Note: See Middle English Studies Presented to Norman Davis in Honour of his Seventieth Birthday, eds. Douglas Gray and E.G. Stanley, (1983) in which (in the introduction to this poem) Edward Wilson thinks that the speaker is probably an adult (who is a spiritual child of the bishop) rather than one of the 'pueri eleemosynariae' of St. Swithun's who are recorded as taking part in various dramatic activities in the 15th century. Although there are two surviving 'episcopus iuvenum' sermons delivered by boys, both of these sermons emphasize the theme of childhood and the fact that the speaker is a boy. Also, the Waynflete poem describes the speaker and his companions as pilgrims at one point, indicating that they are joined by 'straungers of tendere yeres' (l. 105) which would make the poem sound odd if read by a literal child.
    Note: In his notes, Wilson indicates that the 'lytyl braunche' may refer to an actual flower, or perhaps to the incorporation of this motif in a piece of jewelry such as a brooch or ring.
  • a1225 Wint.Ben.Rule (Cld D.3)143/8 : Cyldȝeonȝe manna [L Infantibus..usque ad quintum decimum annum etatis] unþeawa eall ȝeferreden styre, & habben hyre micele ȝymene od ðæt fifteoðe ȝear hyre ylde..
    • Note: [L Infantibus uero usque ad quintum decimum annum etatis discipline diligentia ab omnibus adhibeatur et custodia sit.]
    Note: Quot. antedates sense 13.(d).
Note: The list of variant spellings in the form section is incomplete and needs revision to accord with standards of later volumes of the MED.--notes per MLL

©2025 Regents of the University of Michigan. For details about this collection's copyright see the MEC copyright statement and the U-M Library Copyright Policy. Data last refreshed Tuesday, March 4, 2025 at 12:18:00.