man child
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English manchylde, man-chylde (“a male child”), equivalent to man + child.
Noun
man child (plural man children or men children)
- (archaic) A young male human; a boy.
- Antonyms: girlchild, woman child
- 1611, King James Bible, Book of Leviticus, 12:2:
- Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.
- 1891, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, The Blue Pavilions:(Set in 1673)
- "She is dead," he announced, very gravely and simply.
The hunchback shivered. Captain Runacles neither spoke nor stirred in his chair.
"A man-child was born at two o'clock. He is alive: his mother died two hours later."
- (colloquial, generally derogatory) An adult male considered childish or immature.
- 2004, Glen Macnow & Angelo Cataldi, The Great Philadelphia Sports Debate, Middle Atlantic Press (2004), →ISBN, page 161:
- In the end, Brown said he just couldn't stand another day of trying to run a team with two sets of rules — one for 11 players and the other for the man-child superstar.
- 2004, Glen Macnow & Angelo Cataldi, The Great Philadelphia Sports Debate, Middle Atlantic Press (2004), →ISBN, page 161:
Synonyms
- (boy): See also Thesaurus:boy.
Translations
Translations
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See also
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English compound terms
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English multiword terms
- English terms with archaic senses
- English terms with quotations
- English colloquialisms
- English derogatory terms
- English oxymorons
- en:Children
- en:People
- en:Personality