Baby, kid, child

[Tait-ka]

My nephew is one year and eight months old. Would you call him a baby, a kid or a child?

Thanks.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'd probably say he's a toddler. I might say he's an eighteen-month-old (yes, I know he's only sixteen months old but so what?)
If he's walking, as I suspect he is, I wouldn't call him a baby anymore.
He's definitely both a child and a kid (he's the kid/child of your aunt and uncle). Those words can be used for anyone from the date of their birth all the way through their life. I'm definitely my parents' only child and I'm well into my fifties.

 

[jutfrank]

Someone might call him any of the three, depending on the situation. Our choice of words always depends on context.

 

[Rover_KE]

Our choice of words always depends on context.

Exactly. Some older British English-speakers don't like 'kids' much. I sometimes call them 'kiddies'. Skip the next bit if you've read it here before.

TRUE STORY:

DAUGHTER (when she was about eight, passing a farm in back seat of family car): There's some kids in that field, Dad.

ME: Don't call them kids - they're children.

DAUGHTER: What? Baby goats?

 

[Tait-ka]

I'd probably say he's a toddler.

Dictionaries say that a toddler is a baby who is learning to walk. My nephew has already started walking. He's properly walking now. So he's not a toddler anymore. How can you say that he's a toddler?

might say he's an eighteen-month-old (yes, I know he's only sixteen months old but so what?)

I don't understand what you're saying here. I said my nephew is one year and eight months old, i.e. he's twenty months old (12 months + 8 months).

he's the kid/child of your aunt and uncle

I don't understand what you mean here. He's my nephew - my sister's son.

 

[SoothingDave]

Toddler is generally defined as between 1 and 3 years of age.

 

[emsr2d2]

Dictionaries say that a toddler is a baby who is learning to walk. My nephew has already started walking. He's properly walking now. So he's not a toddler anymore. How can you say that he's a toddler?

I'm surprised by that definition. To me, the verb "toddle" means to walk unsteadily as a young child. There's a very specific gait that toddlers have when they can't yet walk confidently. I know very little about kids so I thought a child that age would still be toddling, especially since I thought he was sixteen months old. You live and learn!

I don't understand what you're saying here. I said my nephew is one year and eight months old, i.e. he's twenty months old (12 months + 8 months).

And this is why I don't teach maths! (I actually simply misread the post and thought it said "one year and four months".)

I don't understand what you mean here. He's my nephew - my sister's son.

I'm obviously not reading clearly today. I read "cousin" instead of "nephew". Sorry for the confusion but the point remains. He's the son/kid/child of your sister.

 

[5jj]

Dictionaries say that a toddler is a baby who is learning to walk.

Which dictionaries say that a toddler is a baby who is learning to walk?

 

[Tait-ka]

Which dictionaries say that a toddler is a baby who is learning to walk?

For example, Cambridge Dictionary.

toddler

1. a young child, especially one who is learning or has recently learned to…

dictionary.cambridge.org

The dictionary uses the word "young child", I used the word "baby', but I think that doesn't matter.

 

[5jj]

1. It matters when you are asking about the differences between meanings.
2. Don't ever claim a source says something it doesn't.

 

[jutfrank]

You cannot attribute precise definitions to common words such as 'baby', but generally speaking we use the word when the child is too immature to walk and talk, since these are very significant developments. As soon as a child starts toddling, many of us begin to stop using the word 'baby'.

 

[Tait-ka]

Someone might call him any of the three, depending on the situation. Our choice of words always depends on context.

The context is this:

Yesterday my sister was was in a shopping mall, where a very close college friend of hers met her after long time. Both my sister and her friend spent some time together, chatted and had meal. My sister's friend asked my sister, "Have you got married?" My sister said: Yes, in 2019. Then she asked, "How many children/kids/babies you have?"
My sister said: I have one baby/kid/child. He's one year and eight months old.

Which word is appropriate here, please?

 

[jutfrank]

Are you married?
Yes, I got married in 2019.

You can't ask how many kids someone has before knowing that they have any at all:

Do you have (any) kids/children?

To answer that, here are two possibilities:

Yes, I/we have a 20-month-old son.
Yes, I/we have a little boy. He's twenty months old now.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yesterday, my sister was was in a shopping mall, where a very close college friend of hers met her after a long time apart. Both My sister and her friend spent some time together, chatted and had a meal. My sister's The friend asked my sister, "Have you got married?" My sister said no colon here "Yes, in 2019". Then she asked, "How many children/kids/babies you have?"
My sister said no colon here "I have one baby/kid/child. He's one year and eight months old".

Note my corrections above. Even if the general scenario is from real life, I don't for one second believe that either of them said exactly what you say they did. Are we really meant to believe that your sister said "I have one baby slash kid slash child"?

 

[Tait-ka]

Note my corrections above. Even if the general scenario is from real life, I don't for one second believe that either of them said exactly what you say they did. Are we really meant to believe that your sister said "I have one baby slash kid slash child"?

My sister used the word "baby".

 

[5jj]

Your sister can use any word she likes of her own offspring. Few British people would call a twenty-month-old a baby.