Definition of: "child’s play" with explanation and origin
Definition of: child’s play with explanation and origin? Meaning of child’s play with examples in English idiom dictionary.
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Definition of: "child’s play" with explanation and origin
child’s play
child’s play
Meaning
- an informal expression meaning something that is easy to do
- a trivial matter
- very easy task/work
- as easy as pie
- a piece of cake
- a cinch
Example Sentences
- If you practise enough, driving will eventually become child’s play.
- The hike that we did this weekend was child’s play. I am looking forward to something a bit more challenging.
- Figuring out the password to his account was child’s play.
- I do not know why you are all complaining about the exam. I thought it was child’s play.
- An intricate equation like this is child’s play for someone with my superior intellect. I will show you how to solve it.
Origin
The phrase has been used since the 1300s. The phrase has changed since the original “child’s game.”
The present idiom was used by Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 25 October 1400) in The Merchant’s Tale:
“It is no child’s play to take a wife.”
It is easy to assume that a game that is suitable for children to play will be simple for people of superior intellect. Thus, it makes it sound as if the person using the expression is smarter than someone who could not master the skill. In some instances, it is used by someone to make others feel inferior.
The Origins of child’s play
Children, Easy, Play, WorkEnglish
Related Dictionary
- English Definition & Meaning Dictionary
- English Idioms and phrases Dictionary
- Dictionnaire Français
- Dictionnaire d'expressions idiomatiques et de phrases en français
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English Idioms and phrases
An idiom is a common word or phrase with a figurative, non-literal meaning that is understood culturally and differs from what its composite words' denotations would suggest; i.e. the words together have a meaning that is different from the dictionary definitions of the individual words (although some idioms do retain their literal meanings – see the example "kick the bucket" below). By another definition, an idiom is a speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements.[3] For example, an English speaker would understand the phrase "kick the bucket" to mean "to die" – and also to actually kick a bucket. Furthermore, they would understand when each meaning is being used in context.
To evoke the desired effect in the listener, idioms require a precise replication of the phrase: not even articles can be used interchangeably (e.g. "kick a bucket" only retains the literal meaning of the phrase but not the idiomatic meaning).
Idioms should not be confused with other figures of speech such as metaphors, which evoke an image by use of implicit comparisons (e.g., "the man of steel"); similes, which evoke an image by use of explicit comparisons (e.g., "faster than a speeding bullet"); or hyperbole, which exaggerates an image beyond truthfulness (e.g., "more powerful than a locomotive"). Idioms are also not to be confused with proverbs, which are simple sayings that express a truth based on common sense or practical experience.
