Childrenswear

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Clothing designed specifically for children; garments sized and styled for young individuals; apparel intended to be worn by kids
2. Attire made to fit children’s bodies; outfits tailored for youngsters; fashion created for boys and girls in their early years
3. Apparel and garments manufactured for the youth demographic; clothing items intended for use by minors; kids’ dressing materials and styles

Etymology: "Childrenswear" is a plain compound, built from "children" and "wear" with a linking "-s-" between them. The "wear" element is an old word: it descends from Old English "werian," meaning to clothe or put on, and so reaches back to a Proto-Germanic root for dressing oneself. In the modern sense, "wear" has long meant the clothing itself, as in "footwear" or "menswear," and "childrenswear" follows that pattern. The linking "-s-" is the most interesting piece. "Children" is itself an irregular plural, formed from "child" with the old "-en" plural ending, so the compound shows the same trade-off as "menswear" and "womenswear" but carries its own plural form inside it. Compounds of this type take their first element in the plural to signal that the garments are meant for a group of people rather than one.

Synonyms: kidswear, children's clothing