infant
Americannoun
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infants
plural
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a child during the earliest period of their life, especially before they can walk; baby.
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Law. a person who is not of full age, especially one who has not reached the age of 18 years; a minor.
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a beginner, as in experience or learning; novice.
The new candidate is a political infant.
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anything in the first stage of existence or progress.
noun
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a child at the earliest stage of its life; baby
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law another word for minor
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a young schoolchild, usually under the age of seven
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a person who is beginning or inexperienced in an activity
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(modifier)
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of or relating to young children or infancy
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designed or intended for young children
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adjective
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in an early stage of development; nascent
an infant science or industry
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law of or relating to the legal status of infancy
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of infant
First recorded in 1350–1400; from Latin infant- (stem of infāns ) “small child,” literally, “one unable to speak,” equivalent to in- in- 3 + -fāns, present participle of fārī “to speak”; replacing Middle English enfaunt, from Anglo-French, from Latin, as above
Explanation
An infant is a baby. When you were an infant, you weren't able to walk, talk, or feed yourself (but you had a pretty mean burp). Infant is most often used for a very young human, but you can also use it to talk about animal babies. People are considered infants from the moment of birth until approximately one year old, an age when many babies are starting to walk and talk. At this point, they're commonly called toddlers instead of infants. The Latin root is infantem, which as a noun means "babe in arms," and as an adjective "unable to speak."
Vocabulary lists containing infant
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
These discoveries bring the number of individuals in that particular burial area to five, consisting of four adults and one infant.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026
“Look at this nice mom taking care of an infant; surely she’s a nice lady who would never defraud anyone or even tell a single, small lie,” the image desperately wants to tell us.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
I think we could have been happy, my husband and infant daughter and I, living in that apartment.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026
She has decided to speak publicly as part of an infection prevention campaign run by the Lullaby Trust, a charity which promotes infant health.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
The portrait, in the style of Gainsborough, showed an aristocratic family—parents, two teenage girls and an infant, all thin-lipped, and pale as ghouls—posed before a vaguely Tuscan landscape.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Vitamin D deficiency is linked to the bone disease rickets in babies and infants.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
The death follows those of two infants in the state’s Lancaster County in mid-August amid a growing measles outbreak.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
He is in the middle of a public spat with Pennsylvania officials, including Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, after the state health department reported two measles-associated deaths involving infants.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2026
On my boat, a packed, three-deck pleasure cruise otherwise populated by swimsuit-clad tourists and screaming infants, the story was much the same.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
She heard the low, soft, rhythmic grunts of the females and cooing of the infants, the rumble of the males, with now and then a challenging bark.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
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