Word.ws English Dictionary

it takes a village

it takes a village is the ellipsis of it takes a village to raise a child.

Meaning of it takes a village to raise a child

Proverb

it takes a village to raise a child

  1. An entire community of people must provide for, and interact positively with, children in order for those children to grow up healthily and safely.

Questions about it takes a village

What is it takes a village the ellipsis of?
It takes a village is the ellipsis of it takes a village to raise a child.

Words near it takes a village in the dictionary

  1. it pays to advertise
  2. it self
  3. it takes a heap o' livin' to make a house a home
  4. it takes a heap of living to make a house a home
  5. it takes a lot of living to make a house a home
  6. it takes a village
  7. it takes a village to raise a child
  8. it takes all kinds
  9. it takes all kinds to make a world
  10. it takes all sorts
  11. it takes all sorts to make a world

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: it takes a village (page history and authors); it takes a village to raise a child (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “it takes a village.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/it_takes_a_village. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.