infant

[in-fuhnt]

noun

1. a child during the earliest period of their life, especially before they can walk; baby.

2. Law.,  a person who is not of full age, especially one who has not reached the age of 18 years; a minor.

3. a beginner, as in experience or learning; novice.

   The new candidate is a political infant.

4. anything in the first stage of existence or progress.

adjective

1. of or relating to infants or infancy.

   infant years.

2. being in infancy.

   an infant king.

3. being in the earliest stage.

   an infant industry.

4. of or relating to the legal state of infancy; minor.

infant

/ ˈɪnfənt /

noun

1. a child at the earliest stage of its life; baby

2. law another word for minor

3. a young schoolchild, usually under the age of seven

4. a person who is beginning or inexperienced in an activity

5. (modifier)

   1. of or relating to young children or infancy

   2. designed or intended for young children

adjective

1. in an early stage of development; nascent

   an infant science or industry

2. law of or relating to the legal status of infancy

Other Word Forms

• infanthood noun
• infantlike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of infant¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of infant¹

C14: from Latin infāns, literally: speechless, from _in- ¹ + fārī to speak

Example Sentences

First came 1987’s “Baby Boom,” in which she played a successful businesswoman who upends her life to care for a relative’s infant.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The military pay followed patches to keep money flowing to a program aimed at women, infants and children and a program funding air travel along routes from rural areas that aren’t profitable.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Quadros’s research has found that a specific autoantibody blocks the transport of folate from mother to fetus during pregnancy and when present after birth, the infant’s brain.

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The ghost of “Beloved” is psychological, picking apart Sethe’s traumatic experience of slavery and her guilt from murdering her infant.

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The country had a reputation as a marketplace where local middlemen paid impoverished mothers to hand over their infants.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• child 
• kid 
• newborn 
• toddler