childlike

child +‎ -like

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʃaɪldlaɪk/

childlike (comparative more childlike, superlative most childlike)

1. Innocent and trustful; credulous; artless.
2. Of, like, or suitable for a child.

   Synonyms: childish, childly

   • 2019 May 8, Jon Bailes, “Save yourself! The video games casting us as helpless children”, in The Guardian‎:

     Even Mario is given childlike mannerisms – running open-armed like a fearless toddler, whooping with delight – to convey playful innocence.

• 1859: Henry Barnard, Pestalozzi and Pestalozzianism

  And on the other hand, fatherly and childlike feelings in the national spirit, are the sources of all pure national blessings.

• 1894: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Lessings Nathan Der Weise

  He certainly has childlike simplicity, and all the qualities which go to make up a true Christian character.

• (innocent and trustful): See Thesaurus:naive.

• childlikeness

• childish

• childlike in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• childlike in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.