childhood
n. C / Un. the time of your life when you are a child. It usually covers the years from when you are born until you become a teenager.
n. the period of life between infancy and puberty. Often used to describe the formative years of a person's development or the state of being a child.
I had a very happy childhood in a small village.
Many of her most vivid memories come from her childhood spent living near the coast.
Sociologists often examine how a stable childhood provides the psychological foundation necessary for navigating the complexities of adult professional life.
From Middle English childhode, childhod, from Old English ċildhād (“childhood”). By surface analysis, child + -hood. Compare dialectal Dutch kindheid (“childishness”), German Low German Kinnerheid (“childhood”), and German Kindheit (“childhood”).
Usually uncountable when referring to the general state or period of being a child; countable when referring to the specific experiences of different people.
during my childduring my childhoodLearners often use the person noun 'child' when they mean the time period 'childhood'.