changeling
/ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒlɪŋ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.58 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
In pre-modern European folklore: an infant of a magical creature that was secretly exchanged for a human infant. In British, Irish and Scandinavian mythology the exchanged infants were thought to be those of fairies, sprites or trolls; in other places, they were ascribed to demons, devils, or witches.
noun
A person or object (especially when regarded as inferior) secretly exchanged for something else.
noun
An infant secretly exchanged with another infant deliberately or by mistake; a swapling.
Informal
noun
An organism which can change shape to mimic others; a shape-shifter.
Example Sentences
- "[S]he, as her attendant, hath / A louely boy ſtollen, from an Indian king: / She neuer had ſo ſweete a changeling."
- "Every Lover admires his miſtris, though ſhee be very deformed of her ſelfe, […] her feet ſtinke, ſhee breed lice, a meere changeling, a very monſter, […]: if he loue her once, he admires her for all this, he takes no notice of any ſuch errors, or imperfections of body or minde."
- "Juſt as a Changeling ſeems below the reſt / Of Men, or rather is a two-legg’d Beaſt, / So theſe Gigantick Souls amaz'd we find / As much above the reſt of human kind."
- "Nothing will induce parents to show any attention to a child that they suspect of being a changeling."
- "It was easy enough to see that the child was a changeling, for it wasn't like other children at all it screamed and cried, as if a knife stuck in it, and it wheezed and hit about with its arms like a huldre-cat, and was as ugly as sin."
- "His nurse had told him all about changelings, and how the little people would always try to steal a beautiful human child out of its cradle and put in its stead one of their own ailing, puking brats […]"
Etymology
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒlɪŋ/
- British English: /ˈtʃeɪn(d)ʒlɪŋ/