Chinese word

儿童

Pronunciation

Pinyinér tóng

Meaning

  • nounchild

Example

公园里有很多儿童在玩耍。gōng yuán lǐ yǒu hěn duō ér tóng zài wán shuǎ

There are many children playing in the park.

Illustration for 儿童 (child)

More examples

学校里有很多儿童在参加课外活动。xué xiào lǐ yǒu hěn duō ér tóng zài cān jiā kè wài huó dòng

There are many children at school taking part in extracurricular activities.

Core concept

A child considered as part of a group covered by care, education, or public services.

Common phrases

  • 儿童节ér tóng jié

    Children's Day

  • 儿童教育ér tóng jiào yù

    children's education

  • 儿童成长ér tóng chéng zhǎng

    child development

Similar words

孩子hái zi: A common everyday term for an individual young child.
小孩xiǎo hái: A familiar spoken term for a small child.
幼儿yòu ér: A term for babies and other very young children who have not started school.
少年shào nián: A term for a young person usually in the teenage years.

Definition in Chinese

指年龄较小、需要监护与教育的人群，多用于公共服务、商品和政策等书面或正式场合，亦可作为群体名词使用。zhǐ nián líng jiào xiǎo xū yào jiān hù yǔ jiào yù de rén qún duō yòng yú gōng gòng fú wù shāng pǐn hé zhèng cè děng shū miàn huò zhèng shì chǎng hé yì kě zuò wéi qún tǐ míng cí shǐ yòng

Word origin

儿童 (értóng, "child") is formed from 儿 (ér, "child") and 童 (tóng, "child or young person"), with both parts pointing to a young person.

Usage tips

  • Public facilities may use this term for entry rules, but the qualifying age can differ between providers, so the accompanying number matters.

Opposites

Related words

  • 儿童文学ér tóng wén xuéchildren's literaturenoun
  • 儿童发展ér tóng fā zhǎnchild developmentnoun

Word lists with this word