16 Hilarious Slang Expressions for Kids

Kids! Youngsters! Tiny tots! Curtain climbers!

Curtain climbers?

Whether you’re a parent or simply recall your own childhood, having a variety of terms to describe little ones is always useful. From praising kids as the future to playfully calling them little troublemakers, these slang expressions for children are perfect for spicing up your conversations about the younger generation.

1. Tiny Troublemaker

Numerous slang terms for children, such as rug rat, highlight their small stature. This is also true for the term ankle-biter, which dates back to at least 1840, as seen in William Howitt’s book Heads of People Vol. 1: “And how are ye, John? and how’s Molly, and all the little ankle-biters?”

The term gained such popularity that it developed an additional meaning in the late 1800s. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines it as “A person considered relatively insignificant but still bothersome or irritating.” A 1872 example from the Sheffield Daily Telegraph illustrates this usage: “He believed private companies could operate more efficiently than corporations, as there were fewer ‘ankle biters’ involved.” Both meanings share the theme of being a nuisance.

2. Kitchen Clanger

‘Saucepan lid’ is a rhyming slang term for ‘kid.’ | Layland Masuda/Moment/Getty Images

In rhyming slang, this phrase can mean either a quid or a child. A 2000 advertisement demonstrates the latter usage: “Congratulations on the arrival of your first saucepan lid.” Another rhyming slang term for kid is gawd-forbid.

3. and 4. Breadsnapper and Breadsnatcher

Both in slang and real life, kids need more than just ankles to survive, as evidenced by these related terms with Scottish and Irish origins. Green’s Dictionary of Slang defines them as “a child who consumes an impressive amount of food,” citing a 1935 example from No Mean City: “‘There’ll be no more bread-snappers if I can help it,’ he vowed. ‘Kids are fine for a woman, but they’re a bloody hassle for a man.’”

5. and 6. Crumb-catcher and Crumb-snatcher

‘Crumb-catcher’ is a slang term for a baby. | Jamie Grill/Tetra Images/Getty Images

Similarly, crumb-catcher

and crumb-snatcher were slang terms for infants—defined by Green’s as “[typically] one just starting to eat solid foods”—originating among Black Americans in the late 1950s. These terms can also humorously describe something kids don’t have: a mustache.

7. Half-pint

Dating back to the 1870s, half-pint has been used to describe either a child or someone of short stature. The term appears in Joaquin Miller’s 1876 book First Fam’lies in the Sierras: “Here’s to it! Here’s to the Little Half-a-pint [...] they didn’t even know the baby’s name.”

8. and 9. Quinquennarian and Sexennarian

Simply refer to them as “quinquennarians.” | Ariel Skelley/DigitalVision/Getty Images

Quinquennarian is a delightfully precise term for a 5-year-old child. It was first used in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine in 1821, alongside a related term, to describe a gathering of “mostly quinquennarians, or at most sexennarians.” It’s a charming way to talk about the kindergarten age group.

10. Hasty Pudding

Since slang often delves into the more risqué or taboo aspects of life, terms related to illegitimate parentage have inspired several child-focused expressions, including hasty pudding (possibly linked to the British euphemism for pregnancy, in the pudding club). A 1617 example from John Fletcher’s play The Chances uses the term in this context: “Your Brats born of deceit and broken promises? Your patchwork creations, your Hasty Puddings?”

11. Munchkin

Dorothy and the munchkins in ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ | Getty Images/GettyImages

Petite characters in films have frequently inspired terms for children. For instance, munchkin, a word introduced by author L. Frank Baum in his 1900 novel The Wizard of Oz. The 1939 film popularized the term, which has been used since at least the mid-1970s to describe little ones.

12. Muppet

Jim Henson and Kermit The Frog. | Michel Delsol/GettyImages

The term muppet—which Jim Henson claimed he invented randomly, though it’s also thought to blend marionette and puppet—has been used in a similar way, as noted by Green’s, but it carries multiple unrelated definitions in the OED: These include a squid-shaped fishing lure, a psychiatric inmate, a clumsy individual, and “someone eager but clumsy; a person prone to accidents due to inexperience.”

13. Doorstep Baby

Since at least the late 1800s, doorstep baby has referred to an illegitimate child, and the term is quite literal. A variation in Samuel Ornitz’s 1929 book Haunch, Paunch and Jowl: An Anonymous Autobiography makes the meaning clear: “He was nobody’s child—a door-step bastard.”

14. Beef Baby

While not as famous as going to the mattresses, the term beef baby also originates from criminal slang and involves a mattress. Green’s defines it as “a child fathered by a gangster who is temporarily staying with a girlfriend or mistress while evading the law.” The ‘beef’ likely refers to the conflict between the authorities and the father. This term first appeared in George Pelecanos’s 2003 novel Soul Circus: “Durham [...] saw his son, Laron, a beef baby he had fathered four years ago, once or twice a year.”

15. Yuppie Puppy 

‘Yuppie puppy’ is a slang term for a child. | Cavan Images/Getty Images

Green’s defines this rhyming phrase as “a child of a yuppie, viewed as a trendy accessory in the early 1990s.” Feeling cheerful, Pappy?

16. Drape Ape

Sticking to the rhyming trend, the term drape ape dates back to at least the mid-1970s, as noted in L. Dills’s book CB Slanguage. Drape ape joins other playful terms for kids like house ape, rug rat, and carpet rat.