child diddler
- noun
- Offensive
- Don't let that child diddler near your kids!
Examples
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The police arrested a notorious child diddler yesterday.
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The media avoided using the slang term child diddler in their reports.
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He was shunned in prison after being revealed as a child diddler.
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The community was outraged when they discovered a child diddler living nearby.
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The community was outraged when they discovered a child diddler living nearby.
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The police arrested a notorious child diddler yesterday.
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He was shunned in prison after being revealed as a child diddler.
Synonyms
A person who touches someone in a sexual way without their permission
A person who sexually harms a child
An offensive term for a person who sexually abuses children
A person who builds trust with a child or vulnerable adult to sexually harm them
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward modifier + agent-noun composition: 'child' (a minor) combined with 'diddler' (one who diddles/sexually abuses) yields the meaning 'a person who sexually abuses children', so the overall sense is directly derivable from the parts. Although 'diddler' is slang and offensive and may be infrequent, the semantic composition is transparent to a learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
Child diddler likely comes from the verb diddle, which has long been used to mean 'to touch' or 'fondle' someone in a sexual way. So child diddler literally pictures a person who 'diddles' a child, and that's why it means 'someone who sexually abuses children'.