niñez

childhood

noun nee-NYESS Rare

Usage Note

Niñez is a formal or literary synonym for infancia (childhood). Both are feminine. Niñez tends to appear in more elevated registers — legal texts, memoirs, poetry — while infancia is the everyday word. The -z → -ces spelling rule applies in the plural: niñeces, though the plural is rarely needed since childhood is typically discussed as a single period.

Examples

"Pasó su niñez en el campo."

Natural Translation

She spent her childhood in the countryside.

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