What does childing mean?
Childing is an archaic English word meaning pregnant or bearing young, extended figuratively to describe land, seasons, or plants that are fruitful and productive. It functions as an adjective and comes from the now-obsolete verb 'to child,' meaning to bear a child, which in turn descends from the ancient noun 'child.' The word's most celebrated appearance is in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, where he speaks of 'the childing autumn' — an autumn so generous it produces a second crop, defying the season's usual decline toward barrenness. That image captures the word's essential character: childing connotes fecundity against expectation, a swelling with new life at a moment when nature might be expected to be empty. Today the word has fallen out of ordinary use and survives only in literary, historical, and poetic registers, where its rarity lends texture to descriptions of fertility and abundance. Writers reaching for a deliberately antique voice may revive it, but in everyday modern English it would read as affected or obscure, having been supplanted entirely by 'pregnant' and 'fruitful.'
Pregnant; bearing unborn offspring.
"The shepherd's daughter, childing with her firstborn, kept to the shaded side of the lane."
Strictly archaic; found only in older literature.
Of a season, plant, or soil: bearing fruit or a second crop; productive.
"A childing autumn rewarded the orchard with a late second harvest."
Best known from Shakespeare's phrase 'childing autumn' in Antony and Cleopatra.
'Childing autumn' is Shakespeare's coinage in Antony and Cleopatra for an autumn so fertile it bears a second harvest — proof that even the dying year can be pregnant with life.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of childing
Childing derives from the obsolete English verb 'to child,' meaning to bear or give birth to a child, formed from the noun 'child,' which traces back to Old English 'cild' of uncertain ultimate origin. The adjectival form arose through the present-participle pattern typical of Middle and Early Modern English, and it was current in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries before falling out of general use. Its kinship with 'childhood,' 'childish,' and 'childlike' reflects the same Germanic root, though those derivatives have flourished while 'childing' itself faded into literary history.
How childing is actually used
Childing is archaic and survives almost exclusively in literary and historical contexts, most famously in Shakespeare's phrase 'childing autumn.' Modern writers use it only for deliberate archaic or poetic effect; it should never replace 'pregnant' in ordinary prose. It derives from the verb 'to child' (to bear a child), itself long obsolete.
Easily confused with childing
Chiding means scolding or rebuking someone, while the archaic childing describes being pregnant or bearing young.