once a man, twice a child
/ˌwʌn(t)s‿ə ˈmæn ˌtwaɪs‿ə ˈt͡ʃaɪld/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.62 in modern English
34
Scrabble Score
19
Letters
3
Syllables
12
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "King David being in his childhood, an old man in his ſecond childhood, for all old men are tvvice children, as the proverb is, An old man tvvice a child‡; it happened vvith him, as it doth oftentimes, vvhen vvicked men of a King's childhood take occaſion of evil. / Footnote ‡: Once a Man, tvvice a Child."
- "In verification of the old saying, "Once a man, twice a child," Mr. Hood tells of "A School for Adults,"—and gives a picture of aged men, baldheaded and wigged, whose education had been neglected, studying their A, B, C."
- "Again, it is a saying, ‘once a man twice a child,’ but, of cases without number, it may justly be said, once a man always a man; tens of thousands there are whom this second childhood toucheth not, whose inward vigour evidently increaseth as their outward strength decays, […]"
- "The time will come, dear children, when the mother becomes as a little child. Once a man, twice a child. This must happen to us all if we live to a great age. Bear then, dear ones, with a mother's infirmities, weaknesses, aye, even petulances; you may come to this yourselves."
- "“I am an old man,” he said; “I avail myself of the privilege of an old man,—to be a child. ‘Once a man, twice a child.’[…]”"
- "dora: Look at all these games. Once a man, twice a child, my mother used to say. / ansell: What did she mean by that? / dora: She meant that a man grows from a boy, to a man, to a boy again."
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌwʌn(t)s‿ə ˈmæn ˌtwaɪs‿ə ˈt͡ʃaɪld/
- British English: /ˌwʌn(t)s‿ə ˈmæn ˌtwaɪs‿ə ˈt͡ʃaɪld/