Childish
/ˈtʃaɪldɪʃ/noun
Immature or characteristic of a child.
Did you know?The suffix -ish is an old Germanic ending meaning “having the nature of,” so the word literally marks someone as “in the manner of a child,” not originally a moral judgment.
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
cildisc
“childlike; pertaining to a child”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*kindila- / *kiltham?
“ancestor forms connected to child, offspring, or young one”
Old English
OE
cild
“child; infant; young person”
Middle English
ME
childish
“pertaining to a child; immature”
Modern English
English
childish
“immature, silly, or characteristic of a child”