childless

adjectiveB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,039 of 15,258leans written

Childless means having no children. A childless couple, remain childless, childless by choice.

The word is neutral in form and not always in effect, which is why childfree has become the preferred term for those who chose it — childless implies a lack, and childfree does not. Involuntarily childless is the careful phrasing where it was not a choice. Note that the compound is Middle English and unchanged, built from child plus -less.

Definitions of childless

1adjectivechildlessHaving no children.B2+
“The childless couple left their house to their nephew in their will.”

childless is a state of having no children.

Where it comes from

Middle English childles is child plus -less. Child itself is Old English cild, with no clear relatives outside Germanic.

Middle English
childles
English, today
childless

From Middle English childles; equivalent to child + -less.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

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childless in the wild

After a baby concert becomes a disaster, Lindsay Naegle rallies the town to favor childless adults, but Marge fights back with a voter initiative.
Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays
Traditionally the performance was carried out of childless person.
Sigalegale
If a person died childless a si gale-gale is created as a substitute.
Sigalegale
Most abortions required approval by a special medical board, and they were banned entirely for childless women, with only medical exceptions.
Abortion in Bulgaria

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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