infant

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• infaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

Latin īnfantem, accusative masculine singular of īnfāns, nominal use of the adjective meaning 'not able to speak', from īn- (“not”) + fāns, present participle of for (“to speak”). The verb is from Anglo-Norman enfanter, from the same Latin source.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA: /ˈɪn.fənt/
• Rhymes: -ɪnfənt

Noun

infant (plural infants)

1. A very young human being, from birth to somewhere between six months and two years of age, needing almost constant care and/or attention.
2. (law) A minor.
3. (obsolete) A noble or aristocratic youth.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.2:

     Retourned home, the royall Infant fell / Into her former fitt [...].

Related terms

• infanticide
• infantile

Translations

very young human being

• Arabic: رضيع (ar) (raḍīʿ) m
• Armenian: երեխա (hy) (erexa), մանուկ (hy) (manuk)
• Burmese: နို့စို့ကလေး (my) (no.so.kăle:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嬰兒 (cmn), 婴儿 (cmn) (yīng'ér)

• Czech: kojenec (cs) m
• Danish: spædbarn (da)
• Dutch: zuigeling (nl) m and f
• Esperanto: infano (eo), (used attributively) infana (eo)
• Finnish: pikkulapsi (fi), imeväinen (fi)
• French: nourrisson (fr) m
• Georgian: ჩვილი (ka) (č'vili)
• German: Säugling (de) m, Baby (de) n
• Greek: βρέφος (el) (vréfos) n, νήπιο (el) (nípio) n
• Hindi: शिशु (hi) (śiśu) m
• Hungarian: csecsemő (hu), kisbaba (hu)
• Interlingua: infante (ia)
• Italian: bambino (it) m, bambina (it) f
• Japanese: 赤ちゃん (ja) (あかちゃん, akachan), 赤ん坊 (ja) (あかんぼう, akanbō), 幼児 (ja) (ようじ, yōji), 乳児 (ja) (にゅうじ, nyūji)

• Korean: 유아 (ko) (yua)
• Kyrgyz: наристе (ky) (nariste), бала (ky) (bala)
• Latin: infans (la) m and f
• Lojban: cifnu (jbo)
• Nahuatl: cozcapantica
• Norwegian: spebarn (no) n
• Persian: طفل (fa) (tefl), کودک (fa) (kudak)
• Romanian: bebeluș (ro) m
• Russian: младенец (ru) (mladénec) m, (грудной) ребёнок (ru) (rebjónok) m, дитя (ru) (ditjá) n
• Scottish Gaelic: maothran (gd) m
• Spanish: nene (es) m, infante (es) m
• Swahili: watoto wachanga (sw)
• Swedish: spädbarn (sv)
• Telugu: శిశువు (SiSuvu), పసిపాప (pasipaapa)
• Turkish: bebek (tr)
• Vietnamese: trẻ sơ sinh (vi)
• Zulu: ingane (zu) 9/10

legal minor

• Armenian: անչափահաս (hy) (ančapahas)
• Danish: mindreårig (da)
• Hungarian: kiskorú (hu)

• Italian: minorenne (it) m and f, minore (it) m and f
• Norwegian: barn (no) n, mindreårig (no) m
• Swedish: underårig (sv)

See also

• sudden infant death syndrome
• newborn
• neonate

Verb

infant (third-person singular simple present infants, present participle infanting, simple past and past participle infanted)

1. (obsolete) To bear or bring forth (a child); to produce, in general.
   • Milton

     This worthy motto, "No bishop, no king," is […] infanted out of the same fears.