Creative ideas or projects that someone has invented or developed, as if they were offspring of their mind.
Compound of 'brain' (Old English 'brægen', meaning the organ of thought) and 'children' (plural of child). The metaphor treats intellectual creations like offspring, suggesting they're born from and carry the identity of their creator.
This phrase reveals how deeply humans associate creativity with parenthood—we don't just make ideas, we *birth* them. The metaphor shows up across cultures because the emotional investment in our creative work really does feel like raising a child.
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