changeling

/'tʃeindʤliɳ/

Thân thiện

A fairy leaves a changeling in a cradle while the human parents sleep.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A child secretly exchanged for another in infancy: In folklore and mythology, a changeling is a child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies or other supernatural beings for a human child they have stolen.
   • A person of subnormal intelligence: An archaic and offensive term for a person with a learning disability or intellectual impairment, often historically linked to the folk belief that such a person was a fairy substitute.

Usage and Examples

• Noun (Folklore context):
  • The parents feared their sickly, crying baby was a changeling left by the fairies.
  • In the old tale, the family left the changeling on the hillside, hoping to get their true son back.
• Noun (Archaic, offensive context):
  • The cruel term "changeling" was once used to describe individuals with developmental differences. (Note: This usage is now considered highly offensive and obsolete.)

Advanced Usage

• "Changeling child": A phrase emphasizing the folkloric context of the substitution.
  • Legends often describe a changeling child as being unusually fussy or sickly.
• Conceptual usage: Used metaphorically to describe someone who seems fundamentally different from their family or group, as if swapped.
  • Feeling like a changeling in her own family, she never shared their interests.

Variants and Related Words

• Change (verb): To make or become different. (The root word, but not a direct variant in meaning).
• Changeling belief (noun phrase): The superstitious belief in fairy child substitution.

Synonyms

• Fairy child (specifically for the folklore sense).
• Substitute child (neutral term for the core concept).
• Simpleton (archaic and offensive synonym for the second meaning).

Notes on Usage

• The primary contemporary use of "changeling" is in the context of folklore, mythology, fantasy literature, and historical discussion.
• The second definition, referring to a person with an intellectual disability, is archaic and deeply offensive. It should not be used in modern language except in a historical or academic discussion of the term's etymology and harmful past usage.
• The word often carries connotations of deception, otherness, and unnaturalness derived from its folkloric roots.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy
2. a person of subnormal intelligence

Từ đồng nghĩa

• idiot
• imbecile
• cretin
• moron
• half-wit
• retard