A.of a child, “θρίξ” IG12(5).173 iii 4 (Paros); “χιτών” PTeb.127 (ii B. C.); “ἡλικία” Demetr. Lac.Herc.1055.10; for or like a child, whether boy or girl, but more commonly the former, boyish, “ἔρως” Pl.R.608a, cf. S.Fr.841; “πέος” Ar.Lys.415; π. χορός the chorus of boys, Lys.21.4; π. δῶρον a present for a child, Arist.EN1123a15; π. ἁμαρτίαι, φιλίαι, ib.1119a34, 1165b26; π. μαθήματα the elementary sciences, chiefly geometry, Plb.9.26a.4; “π. μέτρησις” Str.2.4.2; “παλαίστρα” SIG577.84 (Milet., iii/ii B. C.); τὸ π. νικᾶν to win in the boys' games, IG5(1).275, al. (Sparta, also written παιδιχόν , ib.260, al.); π. αὐλός, opp. παρθένιος, Arist.HA581b11.
2. playful, sportive, “λόγοι” X.Ages.8.2; opp.σπουδαῖος, Pl.Cra.406c. Adv. -κῶς, opp. σπουδαίως, ibid., Id.Ly.211a, etc.
II. of or for a beloved youth, ὕμνοι π. love-songs, B.Fr.3.12; π. λόγος a love-tale, X.Cyr.1.4.27; παιδικά (sc. μέλη), such as the twenty-ninth Idyll of Theoc.
2. darling, favourite, minion, “μηδὲ παλλακὴν μηδὲ π. ἔχειν” PTeb.104.20(i B. C.):—elsewh. in pl. (of a single person) παιδικά , ῶν, τά, mostly of a boy, S.Fr.153, Pl.Prt.315e, etc.; [Ζήνων] π. τοῦ Παρμενίδου his darling pupil, Id.Prm.127b; “π. ὢν καὶ πιστότατος” Th.1.132, cf. Pl. Phdr.239a: seldom as a real pl., “ἐρασταὶ καὶ π.” Id.Smp.178e, Onos. 24; rarely of a girl, Cratin.258, Eup.327: generally, Philostr.Her. 2.7.