changeling

noun

change·​ling ˈchānj-liŋ 

1

archaic : turncoat

2

: a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy

3

archaic : imbecile

changeling adjective

Examples of changeling in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

McBride reflects on Queen Mab’s protagonist, a 23-year-old graduate student of Victorian and modernist literature, who struggles to bond with her baby and begins to fear that her child is a changeling. — Fiction Non Fiction, Literary Hub, 17 Sep. 2026

Is the baby really a baby, or has it been replaced by a changeling? — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026

Like a changeling—a motif that recurs throughout the novel—the old narrator has been taken and replaced by someone new. — Bekah Waalkes, The Atlantic, 25 Sep. 2025

What do the Krampus, a horde of undead elves, bloodthirsty changelings, and William Shatner have in common? — Huntley Woods, EW.com, 19 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1534, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Kids Definition

changeling

noun

change·​ling ˈchānj-liŋ 

: a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy