"inner child" meaning in English

See inner child in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: inner children [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|inner children}} inner child (plural inner children)
  1. (psychology) The childlike aspect of a person's psyche — typically, the personality and the memories of one's childhood — especially in the context of coexisting with, and being suppressed by, an adult aspect of the person. Wikipedia link: inner child Categories (topical): Psychology Related terms: id, puer aeternus Translations (childlike aspect of a person's psyche): barruko umea (Basque), nen interior [masculine] (Catalan), 內在孩童 (Chinese Mandarin), 内在孩童 (nèizài háitóng) (Chinese Mandarin), sisäinen lapsi (Finnish), enfant intérieur [masculine] (French), neno interior [masculine] (Galician), Inneres Kind [neuter] (German), bambino interiore [masculine] (Italian), 内なる童心 (uchi-naru doushin) (alt: うちなるどうしん) (Japanese), wewnętrzne dziecko (Polish), criança interior [feminine] (Portuguese), copil interior (Romanian), niño interior [masculine] (Spanish)

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for inner child meaning in English (4.8kB)

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    {
      "form": "inner children",
      "tags": [
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
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  "senses": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1993, Barbara Ann Brennan, Light Emerging: The Journey of Personal Healing, Bantam Books, page 135",
          "text": "As I encouraged him to stay with that pain, he fell deeply into the reality of the inner child. The need in this inner child for love was very real indeed. He loved this inner child with all his heart.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2009, Jo Woodiwiss, Contesting Stories of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Springer Nature (Palgrave Macmillan), 2009, Softcover reprint, page 186,\nA level of intensity can be seen in Anne's account, although Anne's investment was not so much in the world of her adult self but in the therapeutic world of inner children. […] Anne worked hard on her healing but the majority of this work was done on, or with, her inner children."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Bree Maresca-Kramer, It's That Simple!: A Woman's Book on Relationships, Life, Ourselves and the Healing of It All, It's That Simple!, page 57",
          "text": "I will start by stating that most of the time — especially in our relationships — it is not our adult self, but rather our inner child, who is actually running the show. We all have an inner child.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Shakti Durga, Empowering Relationships, Higher Guidance, page 110",
          "text": "In traditional marriages, the woman mothered both inner children by holding the emotional content of the marriage, cooking and keeping house.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The childlike aspect of a person's psyche — typically, the personality and the memories of one's childhood — especially in the context of coexisting with, and being suppressed by, an adult aspect of the person."
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(psychology) The childlike aspect of a person's psyche — typically, the personality and the memories of one's childhood — especially in the context of coexisting with, and being suppressed by, an adult aspect of the person."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "id"
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        {
          "word": "puer aeternus"
        }
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "eu",
          "lang": "Basque",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "word": "barruko umea"
        },
        {
          "code": "ca",
          "lang": "Catalan",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "nen interior"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "word": "內在孩童"
        },
        {
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "nèizài háitóng",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "word": "内在孩童"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "word": "sisäinen lapsi"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "enfant intérieur"
        },
        {
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "neno interior"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Inneres Kind"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "bambino interiore"
        },
        {
          "alt": "うちなるどうしん",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "uchi-naru doushin",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "word": "内なる童心"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "word": "wewnętrzne dziecko"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "criança interior"
        },
        {
          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "word": "copil interior"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "niño interior"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "inner child"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "inner child"
}
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
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          "ref": "1993, Barbara Ann Brennan, Light Emerging: The Journey of Personal Healing, Bantam Books, page 135",
          "text": "As I encouraged him to stay with that pain, he fell deeply into the reality of the inner child. The need in this inner child for love was very real indeed. He loved this inner child with all his heart.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2009, Jo Woodiwiss, Contesting Stories of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Springer Nature (Palgrave Macmillan), 2009, Softcover reprint, page 186,\nA level of intensity can be seen in Anne's account, although Anne's investment was not so much in the world of her adult self but in the therapeutic world of inner children. […] Anne worked hard on her healing but the majority of this work was done on, or with, her inner children."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010, Bree Maresca-Kramer, It's That Simple!: A Woman's Book on Relationships, Life, Ourselves and the Healing of It All, It's That Simple!, page 57",
          "text": "I will start by stating that most of the time — especially in our relationships — it is not our adult self, but rather our inner child, who is actually running the show. We all have an inner child.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2012, Shakti Durga, Empowering Relationships, Higher Guidance, page 110",
          "text": "In traditional marriages, the woman mothered both inner children by holding the emotional content of the marriage, cooking and keeping house.",
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        }
      ],
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        "The childlike aspect of a person's psyche — typically, the personality and the memories of one's childhood — especially in the context of coexisting with, and being suppressed by, an adult aspect of the person."
      ],
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        "(psychology) The childlike aspect of a person's psyche — typically, the personality and the memories of one's childhood — especially in the context of coexisting with, and being suppressed by, an adult aspect of the person."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
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      "wikipedia": [
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "eu",
      "lang": "Basque",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "word": "barruko umea"
    },
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "nen interior"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "word": "內在孩童"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "nèizài háitóng",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "word": "内在孩童"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "word": "sisäinen lapsi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "enfant intérieur"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "neno interior"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Inneres Kind"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "bambino interiore"
    },
    {
      "alt": "うちなるどうしん",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "uchi-naru doushin",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "word": "内なる童心"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "word": "wewnętrzne dziecko"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "criança interior"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "word": "copil interior"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "childlike aspect of a person's psyche",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "niño interior"
    }
  ],
  "word": "inner child"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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