Word.ws English Dictionary

once a man, twice a child

/ˌwʌn(t)s‿ə ˈmæn ˌtwaɪs‿ə ˈt͡ʃaɪld/

once a man, twice a child proverb: a man is born as a child, grows to adulthood, and consequently enters old age, when he deteriorates and reverts to a childlike state.

Proverb

once a man, twice a child

  1. A man is born as a child, grows to adulthood, and consequently enters old age, when he deteriorates and reverts to a childlike state.
    • King David being in his childhood, an old man in his ſecond childhood, for all old men are tvvice children, as the proverb is, An old man tvvice a child‡; it happened vvith him, as it doth oftentimes, vvhen vvicked men of a King's childhood take occaſion of evil. / Footnote ‡: Once a Man, tvvice a...1549 March 24 (Gregorian calendar), Hugh Latimer, “Sermon VI. Being the Second Sermon Preached before King Edward VI. March the Fifteenth.”, in The Sermons of the Right Reverend Father in God, Master...
    • In verification of the old saying, "Once a man, twice a child," Mr. Hood tells of "A School for Adults,"—and gives a picture of aged men, baldheaded and wigged, whose education had been neglected, studying their A, B, C.1827, “The Progress of Art”, in William Hone, editor, The Table Book, London: […] [F]or William Hone, by Hunt and Clarke, […], →OCLC, page 745, column 2

Examples of once a man, twice a child in a sentence

  • “I am an old man,” he said; “I avail myself of the privilege of an old man,—to be a child. ‘Once a man, twice a child.’[…]”1889, Oscar F[itzalan] Safford, “Toward Evening”, in Hosea Ballou: a Marvellous Life-story, 3rd edition, Boston, Mass.: Universalist...
  • Once a man, twice a child, my mother used to say. / ansell: What did she mean by that? / dora: She meant that a man grows from a boy, to a man, to a boy again.1971, Plays and Players, volume 19, London: Hansom Books, →ISSN, →OCLC, scene iii, page 64, column 1:

Synonyms of once a man, twice a child

Words formed from once a man, twice a child

Words that rhyme with once a man, twice a child

Questions about once a man, twice a child

What does once a man, twice a child mean?
Once a man, twice a child means a man is born as a child, grows to adulthood, and consequently enters old age, when he deteriorates and reverts to a childlike state.
How do you use once a man, twice a child in a sentence?
“I am an old man,” he said; “I avail myself of the privilege of an old man,—to be a child. ‘Once a man, twice a child.’[…]”
What part of speech is once a man, twice a child?
Once a man, twice a child is a proverb.
How do you pronounce once a man, twice a child?
Once a man, twice a child is pronounced /ˌwʌn(t)s‿ə ˈmæn ˌtwaɪs‿ə ˈt͡ʃaɪld/ (UK).

Words near once a man, twice a child in the dictionary

  1. oncaeid
  2. oncaeids
  3. oncame
  4. once
  5. once a man, twice a boy
  6. once a man, twice a child
  7. once a thief, always a thief
  8. once a woman, twice a child
  9. once again
  10. once an adult and twice a child
  11. once an adult, twice a child

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: once a man, twice 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.

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