noun
Archaic term for a child; not used in modern Japanese. Found only in historical texts.
古文書に「小孩児」という語が見られる。
The word 小孩児 can be found in old documents.
Means 'infant' or 'young child' in modern Japanese, while 小孩児 is an archaic general term for 'child'.
The exact derivation is uncertain; the spelling 小孩児 is an archaic compound using kanji meaning 'small', 'child', and 'child'.