1. (n.) The state of being a child; the time in which persons are children; the condition or time from infancy to puberty.

2. (n.) Children, taken collectively.

3. (n.) The commencement; the first period.

adolescence babyhood beginnings birth boyhood cradle freshman year genesis girlhood inception inchoation incipience incipiency incunabula infancy maidenhead maidenhood minority nascence nascency nativity origin origination parturition pre-teens pregnancy puberty subteens teens youth