Etymograph

English

childing

Childing comes from Middle English childynge ‘pregnant’, from childen ‘to give birth to a child’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘to ball up, amass’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-1‘to ball up, amass’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gelt-1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kelþaz2‘fetus’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kilþ3reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċild2‘child’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500child4‘a child’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500childen5‘to give birth to a child’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500childynge5‘pregnant’
  9. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596childing5

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *kelþaz
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Middle English child
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English cild
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Middle English childen
  5. 5 Wiktionary, English childing
  6. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame: “The Spring, the Sommer, / The childing Autumne, angry…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gel-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *kelþaz‘to ball up, amass’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gelt-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *kelþazreconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kelþazWiktionary, Middle English child‘fetus’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kilþWiktionary, Old English cildreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150ċildWiktionary, Middle English child‘child’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500childWiktionary, Middle English childen‘a child’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500childenWiktionary, English childing‘to give birth to a child’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500childyngeWiktionary, English childing‘pregnant’
  9. Englishearliest quotation c. 1595–1596childingWiktionary, English childing. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame: “The Spring, the Sommer, / The childing Autumne, angry…”

The story

From late Middle English childynge (‘pregnant’), from childen (‘to give birth to a child’) + -ing, -inge (suffix forming the present participles of verbs, which were often used as adjectives); equivalent to child (verb) + -ing (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘having a specified characteristic, nature, or quality’, and forming the present participles of verbs).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gel- ‘to ball up, amass’

clean, cold, cloud, globe, cluster, gel, jelly, chill, clout, clot, clough, gelatin, gelato, glebe, ganglion, clod, globus, klutz, globulin, 47 more

through Proto-Indo-European *gelt-

colt, 8 more

through Old English ċild ‘child’

stepchildren, stepchild, 8 more

Today it means

adj Able to bear children; fertile; also, pregnant, or in the process of childbirth, or having just given birth to a child.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “childing”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *kelþaz, Middle English child, Old English cild, Middle English childen. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gel- / childing

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