child‧hood W3 / tʃaɪldhʊd / 名词 [可数和不可数名词]

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

形容词

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.

动词

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.