changeling

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈtʃeɪndʒlɪŋ/ UK /ˈtʃeɪndʒlɪŋ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a child secretly substituted for another in folklore, esp. by fairies

The villagers feared the sickly infant was a changeling.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a child secretly... substitute imposterfairy-child

Word family

Related forms changechanger

Etymology

From change + -ling (diminutive/agentive suffix), originally meaning 'one given to change, a fickle person', later the folkloric child secretly exchanged by fairies. Change is from Old French changier, from Late Latin cambiāre.

changier Old French cambiāre la-lat

View etymology graph ->

Topics

People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# changeling

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈtʃeɪndʒlɪŋ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtʃeɪndʒlɪŋ/

## Meanings
1. a child secretly substituted for another in folklore, esp. by fairies

## Examples
- The villagers feared the sickly infant was a changeling.

## Synonyms
- substitute
- imposter
- fairy-child

## Related Forms
- change
- changer

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: changier
- Root: cambiāre

## Etymology
From change + -ling (diminutive/agentive suffix), originally meaning 'one given to change, a fickle person', later the folkloric child secretly exchanged by fairies. Change is from Old French changier, from Late Latin cambiāre.

## AI Etymology
Changeling comes from change + -ling (diminutive/agentive suffix), originally meaning 'one given to change, a fickle person', later the folkloric child secretly exchanged by fairies. Change is from Old French changier, from Late Latin cambiāre. The historical trail runs through Old French changier and Latin cambiāre. Morphologically, the surface form is analyzable into prefixes, suffixes, compounds, or participial endings that carry part of the history. The later sense follows a semantic development already present in the word's history. In modern use it means a child secretly substituted for another in folklore, esp. by fairies. Related forms include change, changer.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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