At what age do children typically start to use one-word utterances?

Children typically start to use one-word utterances around the age of one year. This developmental milestone is significant as it marks a transition from babbling and cooing to the first meaningful words. At this stage, children usually express a variety of basic needs and concepts, such as "mama," "dada," or "more," indicating their attempts at communication.

By the age of one, many children have developed sufficient cognitive and motor skills to produce single words that carry meaning in their daily interactions. This milestone is often accompanied by an increase in their understanding of language as they begin to associate words with specific objects or actions, laying the groundwork for more complex language development in the years to follow.

Other stages, such as six months or nine months, are critical for vocalization and social interaction but do not typically involve the production of meaningful one-word utterances. At two years, children usually progress to forming two- or three-word combinations, which reflects further development beyond single words.