How to say "childhood" in Japanese

• 幼少ようしょうCommon
  na-adjective, no-adjectiveCovers infancy and the earliest part of childhood, stressing how young the child is — the 'tender age' sense; typical in descriptions of a person's very early years.
  彼かれのマナーが悪わるいのは幼少ようしょう時代じだいのしつけが足たりなかったせいだと彼かれらは考かんがえた。↗

  They attributed his bad manners to lack of training in childhood.
• 幼年ようねんCommon
  nounNames childhood as a stage of early life, the years before one grows up; it also forms the first half of 幼年時代 below, which spells the period out more fully.
• 幼時ようじCommon
  no-adjective, adverbTreats childhood as a stretch of time — literally the time of being young; it points to that era of a person's early life, typical of reminiscence about one's own childhood.
• 幼年時代ようねんじだいCommon
  nounThe most explicit way to say 'childhood' as a whole era of a person's life — the years one spent as a child; natural when talking about where or how someone grew up.
  一番いちばん下したの弟おとうとは祖母そぼにより幼年ようねん時代じだい育そだてられた。↗

  My youngest brother was brought up by our grandmother.

All four concern early life: 幼少 stresses the 'tender age' of infancy, 幼年 names the childhood stage, 幼時 treats it as a stretch of time, and 幼年時代 is the clearest choice for childhood as a period of one's life.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 幼少ようしょうinfancy
• 幼年ようねんchildhood
• 幼時ようじchildhood
• 幼年時代ようねんじだいchildhood
• 幼年期ようねんきchildhood
• 幼齢ようれいchildhood
• 子供時代こどもじだいchildhood
• 幼少時ようしょうじchildhood
• 幼ようinfancy
• 幼少期ようしょうき(early) childhood