child's play

American  

noun

1. something very easily done.

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child's play British  

noun

1. informal something that is easy to do

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child's play Idioms  

1. Something easily done, a trivial matter. For example, Finding the answer was child's play for Robert, or The fight we had was child's play compared to the one I had with my mother! Originating in the early 1300s as child's game, the idiom was already used in its present form by Chaucer in The Merchant's Tale: “It is no child's play to take a wife.”

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Etymology

Origin of child's play

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Example Sentences

“They’re about to miss another payment. This is going to look like child’s play, what’s happening right now,” Duffy said.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 20, 2026

If you look at Hasbro’s earnings, everything seems like child’s play.

From Barron's • Feb. 11, 2026

My niece is part of Generation Alpha — born between 2013 and the mid-2020s — and while they're still kids, their exposure to digital marketing is anything but child's play.

From Salon • Apr. 17, 2025

But I do, in a way, think that child’s play is sacred.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 22, 2024

It was a child’s play, chosen to conceal a deeper game on Frank Churchill’s part.

From "Emma" by Jane Austen