sweet summer child
- noun
- Informal
:
niño inocente
- He was such a sweet summer child, thinking everyone he met had his best interests at heart.
Examples
-
Her trusting nature made her a sweet summer child, oblivious to the harsh realities of life.
-
Oh my sweet summer child.
-
Despite the challenges she faced, her optimistic attitude made her a sweet summer child who always believed in the goodness of people.
Synonyms
1
8.1
A person who is inexperienced and easily harmed or tricked
Antonyms
How Naive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The constituents 'sweet' and 'child' directly evoke innocence and tenderness, so a learner who knows those words would likely infer a basic sense of a naive or gentle person. However, the insertion of 'summer' is metaphorical and adds a culturally specific, poetic nuance (fleeting warmth/naivety) that is not fully predictable from the parts, so the full idiomatic sense may require prior exposure.
Etymology
Sweet summer child gives a picture of a young person who has only known warm, safe summers. The words sweet, summer, and child make you think of someone gentle and sheltered, so the phrase means 'innocent' or 'naive'.