The plural of CHILD + The difference between Child, Child’s, Children, Children’s
A child is a young person. A child is not an adult yet.
An adult is a person who is 18 years old or more.
Today we are going to look at the word CHILD.
Child is a singular noun. There is only ONE of something. ONE child.
An example sentence:
- The child is playing.
Child is singular. Child refers to ONE… one child is playing
What is the plural form of child?
The plural of child is children.
Children is a plural noun. There can be two children, three children, four children, or many children.
Children refers to MORE THAN ONE.
An example sentence:
- The children are playing.
NOTE: There is no S at the end of the word child. We do NOT say “childs”.
Also, there is no S at the end of the word children. We do NOT say “childrens”.
The word Children (without an S at the end) is an irregular plural noun so we don’t put an S at the end.
BUT sometimes there is an apostrophe S after child and children…
Child’s – Children’s
When there is an apostrophe S after a noun, they are known as possessive nouns.
Child’s is a possessive noun.
Children’s is a possessive noun.
The apostrophe S is used to show possession or that someone has something.
For example:
Child’s means one child has something. (That something comes next in the sentence.)
Children’s means two or more children have something.
Let’s see some examples:
- The child’s toys are on the floor.
Since child is singular, child’s toys means “the toys of the child.” … one child has toys.
- The children’s toys are on the floor.
Since children is plural, children’s toys means “the toys of the children.” … two (or more) children have toys.
What does kid mean?
There is another word used instead of child… KID.
Note: Kid is informal.
Kid is a singular noun so it refers to ONE child.
You can say:
- The child is playing … or …
- The kid is playing.
The last sentence is more informal.
So, if child and kid are singular nouns, what is the plural form of these words?
The plural of child is children.
The plural of kid is kids.
Kid is a regular noun so we just put an S at the end to make it plural.
One kid, Two kids. Yes, kids (in plural form) is also informal.
Let’s see our example sentences.
- The children are playing. … or …
- The kids are playing.
Summary Chart
See more about when and how to use the Apostrophe S in this lesson:
Apostrophe S – Possessive Nouns
Examples
| Singular | Plural |
| child | children |
| tooth | teeth |
| foot | feet |
| person | people |
Why is the plural of child?, A: In Old English, nouns that followed certain patterns formed their plurals with -n rather than –s. … This -en ending was so popular in Middle English that it was even added to existing irregular plurals, so that brethre (plural of “brother”) became brethren and childer (plural of “child”) became children.
Furthermore, Is children a double plural?, Children and brethren are both double plurals. … The plural of child was originally childer, like German Kind/Kinder.
Finally, Which one is correct childrens or children’s?, “Children’s” means belonging or relating to children. For example ‘children’s clothes’ or ‘children’s literature. ‘ The form “childrens‘ ” does not exist. The word ‘children‘ is already plural, so you cannot add an ‘s’ to it.
Frequently Asked Question:
Which is correct children’s or childrens?
“Children’s” means belonging or relating to children. For example ‘children’s clothes’ or ‘children’s literature. ‘ The form “childrens‘ ” does not exist. The word ‘children‘ is already plural, so you cannot add an ‘s’ to it.
Is children’s singular or plural?
Step 3: Singular and Plural
| Singular Noun | Regular Plural (add s) | Irregular Plural |
| Child | Children | |
| Tooth | Teeth | |
| Eggs | Eggs | |
| Baby | Babies |
Where should the apostrophe go in children’s?
Some plurals don’t end in S. They include men, women and children. For these, the rule is to add an apostrophe then an S: men’s, women’s, children’s. But the plural of “kid” does end in S: kids.
How do you punctuate childrens?
If more than one person owns the thing, first identify the plural form, noting whether it ends in S: men, women, children, kids. Then, if it doesn’t end in S, add apostrophe plus S: men’s department, women’s accessories, children’s toys. If the plural does end in S, add an apostrophe only: kids‘ menu.
Is it correct to say childrens?
“Children’s” is the correct way to form the possessive for the word children. Regular English plurals add ‘S’ to the end of words. You only need to add an apostrophe to avoid a double ‘S’. … Children is already plural, so you would not spell it as childrens‘.
Is child a plural word?
The plural of child is children.
What is the plural of child answer?
Children is the plural form of the word child and is used to refer to a group of or many youngsters who are below the age of puberty. It is also used to refer to irresponsible or immature individuals. Example: When children leave home, parents can feel somewhat redundant.
Is it correct to say childrens?
“Children’s” is the correct way to form the possessive for the word children. Regular English plurals add ‘S’ to the end of words. You only need to add an apostrophe to avoid a double ‘S’. … Children is already plural, so you would not spell it as childrens‘.
Is children a double plural?
Children and brethren are both double plurals. … The plural of child was originally childer, like German Kind/Kinder.
Is Child’s plural or singular?
Step 3: Singular and Plural
| Singular Noun | Regular Plural (add s) | Irregular Plural |
| Child | Children | |
| Tooth | Teeth | |
| Eggs | Eggs | |
| Baby | Babies |
Is it correct to say childrens?
“Children’s” is the correct way to form the possessive for the word children. Regular English plurals add ‘S’ to the end of words. You only need to add an apostrophe to avoid a double ‘S’. … Children is already plural, so you would not spell it as childrens‘.
Which one is correct childrens or children’s?
“Children’s” means belonging or relating to children. For example ‘children’s clothes’ or ‘children’s literature. ‘ The form “childrens‘ ” does not exist. The word ‘children‘ is already plural, so you cannot add an ‘s’ to it.
Can we say childrens?
As for “children’s,” it is a correct word in English that indicates possession by the children. You can‘t use -‘s to indicate plural. The possessive of one child is “child’s,” and the possessive of more than one child is “children’s.”
Is children’s singular or plural?
Step 3: Singular and Plural
| Singular Noun | Regular Plural (add s) | Irregular Plural |
| Child | Children | |
| Tooth | Teeth | |
| Eggs | Eggs | |
| Baby | Babies |
Where should the apostrophe go in children’s?
Some plurals don’t end in S. They include men, women and children. For these, the rule is to add an apostrophe then an S: men’s, women’s, children’s. But the plural of “kid” does end in S: kids.
How do you punctuate childrens?
If more than one person owns the thing, first identify the plural form, noting whether it ends in S: men, women, children, kids. Then, if it doesn’t end in S, add apostrophe plus S: men’s department, women’s accessories, children’s toys. If the plural does end in S, add an apostrophe only: kids‘ menu.
Children is the plural for Child. Child’s is the singular possessive form of Child. Children’s is the plural possessive form of children.
We use children when we want to make the word “child” plural.
So it is:
I have one Child.
I have two children.
Child’s
Child’s is the singular possessive form of child. We use the possessive form of child when we want to show that one child owns something.
This is my child’s friend.
I need to look after my child’s cat.
Remember we are talking about only one child. You can replace “child’s” with a name if that makes it easier to understand.
This is Jane’s friend.
We need to look after Jane’s cat.
Children’s
Children’s is the plural possessive form of children. Because the noun doesn’t end in “s” and we want to make the word possessive, we need to put the apostrophe before the “s”.
This is our children’s house.
In this case, many(more than one) of our children live in the house and they own the house together.
Childrens’
Childrens’ is incorrect and should not be used in English. We don’t put the apostrophe after the “s” because “children” is an irregular plural and does not end in “s”.
Childs’
“Childs’” is incorrect because the plural of “child” is “children”.
Children’s or Childrens’ Menu/Meal
“Children’s Menu” is correct because you are usually aiming your menu at more than one kid so therefore you should use the plural possessive.
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Conor is the main writer here at One Minute English and was an English teacher for 10 years. He is interested in helping people with their English skills and learning about using A.I tools at work.
The word in Old English is the neuter noun cild, which wasn’t inflected for nominative and accusative, either singular or plural. (You can check out the Old English Translator if you wish.) In late Old English, the word took on the inflections of another class of neuter nouns, those with -u/-o stems, which had nominative plurals -ru. This per the OED. (You can also go here.) Thus the plural (in the nominative) became cildru. This change was adopted in the southern dialects, but the north was more conservative, with Northumbrian keeping cild and making its plural cildas, from an attraction to that plural of -a stem masculine nouns. Further north in Scotland, there is the Scottish chield, which always had the plural chields.
Middle English moved the -ru ending to -re, which eventually became the standard for dialects, north and south. The north retained the plural childre, but the south adopted children as the plural along the lines of other nouns ending in -re like brethre (brother) with its plural brethren.
The OED tells us that childes survived until the 15th century from the Northumbrian cildas, but that children became the «standard and literary» winner.
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#1
Greetings. I am a bit curious. Despite I know that the common plural form for the word «child» it’s «children», I want to know if the word «childs» for the plural form of «child» was ever used in the past, or if it is just a plain wrong use of the plural form of that word. I ask that because I’m interested into know a bit about old English, and I also want to know the etimology behind the word «children». Thanks in advance.
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#3
Digging through the OED is interesting but also confusing because the old spellings are very variable.
Childs is one of the many possibilities and examples are given from 950 and 1460.
Children appears from 1175.