child ‧ hood W3 /ˈtʃaɪldhʊd/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable and countable]
the period of time when you are a child:
I had a very happy childhood.
in/during/since (sb’s) childhood
Most infections occur in childhood.
She had been writing poems since her childhood.
childhood home/friend/experience etc (=a home etc that you had when you were a child)
childhood memories (=the memories you have of your childhood) ⇨ ↑ second childhood
REGISTER
In everyday English, people usually say when I was a child when talking about their childhood :
▪ During my childhood we lived by the ocean. ➔ When I was a child we lived by the ocean.
▪ | She’s known him since childhood. ➔ She’s known him since she was a child.
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
■ adjectives
▪ happy/unhappy
Her parents divorced and her childhood was unhappy.
▪ normal
I think my childhood was fairly normal.
▪ lonely
He had no brothers or sisters and a lonely childhood.
▪ a deprived childhood (=without enough money, food, attention etc)
Many children living in these areas have very deprived childhoods.
▪ early/late childhood
Experiences in early childhood are very important.
■ verbs
▪ have a happy/unhappy etc childhood
I wish I'd had a happy childhood like yours.
▪ spend your childhood
This is the house where the artist spent most of his childhood.
▪ remember something from (your) childhood
He remembered the place from his childhood.
■ childhood + NOUN
▪ childhood memories
The smell in the air brought back happy childhood memories.
▪ a childhood friend
He married his childhood friend.
▪ somebody's childhood home
Her childhood home was in North Dakota.
▪ a childhood experience
Our childhood experiences make us who we are.
▪ a childhood illness/disease
measles and other common childhood illnesses
• • •
THESAURUS
■ when you are young
▪ childhood the time when you are a child, especially a young child:
I had a wonderful childhood in the country.
|
childhood illnesses
▪ girlhood/boyhood the time when you are a young girl or boy:
The two men had been friends in boyhood.
|
the transition from girlhood to womanhood
▪ youth the time when you are young, especially between about 15 and 25 when you are no longer a child:
He was a great sportsman in his youth.
|
She revisited all the places where she had spent her youth.
▪ adolescence the time when you are changing from being a child into an adult – used especially when you are talking about the problems people have at this age:
During adolescence, boys are often lacking in self-confidence.
▪ infancy formal the time when you are a baby:
In the past, many more babies died in infancy.