childlike

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

Also spelled child-like

US /ˈtʃaɪldˌlaɪk/ UK /ˈtʃaɪldˌlaɪk/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
having the innocent or trusting qualities of a child

He gazed at the fireworks with childlike wonder.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · having the innocent or... innocent trusting naive ingenuous artless guileless unaffected

Opposites

adult mature sophisticated worldlyjaded

Word family

Forms unchildlike

Derived forms childlikeness

Related forms child childish

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

Etymology

From child + -like. Child is from Old English cild ('child, infant'), of Germanic origin, with -like from Old English gelīc ('similar').

cild Old English gelīc Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# childlike

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

## Meanings
1. having the innocent or trusting qualities of a child

## Examples
- He gazed at the fireworks with childlike wonder.

## Synonyms
- innocent
- trusting
- naive
- ingenuous
- artless
- guileless
- unaffected

## Antonyms
- adult
- mature
- sophisticated
- worldly
- jaded

## Derived Forms
- childlikeness

## Related Forms
- child
- childish

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: cild
- Root: gelīc
- Affix: -like - resembling

## Etymology
From child + -like. Child is from Old English cild ('child, infant'), of Germanic origin, with -like from Old English gelīc ('similar').

## AI Etymology
Childlike is from child + -like. Child is from Old English cild ('child, infant'), of Germanic origin, with -like from Old English gelīc ('similar'). Important recorded forms include cild (Old English) and gelīc (Old English). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. The current sense covers having the innocent or trusting qualities of a child. The wider family includes derived forms such as childlikeness and related words such as child and childish.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

markdown