Where does “babyhood” come from?
Babyhood comes from English baby plus the Middle English suffix -hod, from Old English -hād meaning condition or state, derived from Proto-Germanic haiduz.
babyhood (English): The state or period of infancy
Definitions
- The state or period of infancy
Ancestry of “babyhood”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | baby | A very young human, particularly from birth to a... |
| 2 | Middle English | baby | — |
| 3 | Middle English | -y | Designates an adjective, in many cases formed by... |
| 4 | Old English | -iġ | -y, -ic |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -g | Forms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -gaz | -y |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ḱos | -y, -ic |