A small enclosed area with safety barriers where babies and toddlers can play safely while being supervised.
From 'play' (Old English 'plegan') + 'pen' (Old English 'penn', an enclosure). This is a purely English compound word created in the early 20th century.
The playpen was invented around 1917 and represents a turning point in parenting—suddenly parents could supervise safely without constant physical contact, changing childhood development in industrialized countries!
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