infant

See also: Infant

English

Alternative forms

• infaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Middle English infante, infaunte, borrowed from 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^(key): /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.
   • 1793, William Peere Williams, Samuel Compton Cox, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery, and of Some Special Cases Adjudged in the Court of King's Bench [1695-1735], De Term. S. Trin. 1731, page 602:

     Thomas Humphrey Doleman died the 30th of August 1712, an infant, intestate and without issue; Lewis the next nephew died the 17th of April 1716, an infant about sixteen years old, having left his mother Mary Webb, ...

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 [...].

Derived terms

• infant mortality
• junior infant, senior infant

Related terms

• infanticide
• infantile
• infantry

Translations

very young human being

• Arabic: رَضِيع m (raḍīʕ)
• Armenian: երեխա (hy) (erexa), մանուկ (hy) (manuk)
• Bulgarian: бебе (bg) n (bebe), пеленаче (bg) n (pelenače)
• Burmese: နို့စို့ကလေး (nui.cui.ka.le:)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嬰兒／婴儿 (zh) (yīng'ér), 婴儿 (zh) (yīngr)

• Czech: kojenec (cs) m, nemluvně n
• Danish: spædbarn (da) n
• Dutch: zuigeling (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: infano (eo), (used attributively) infana, infaneto (eo)
• Faroese: barn (fo) n, pinkubarn n, smábarn n
• Finnish: pikkulapsi (fi), imeväinen (fi)
• French: nourrisson (fr) m, enfant en bas âge, poupon (fr)
• Georgian: ჩვილი (čvili)
• German: Säugling (de) m, Wickelkind n, Kind (de) n, Kleinkind (de) n, kleines Kind n, Kriechling m, Baby (de) n
• Greek: βρέφος (el) n (vréfos), νήπιο (el) n (nípio)

  Ancient: βρέφος n (bréphos), νήπιον n (nḗpion)

• Hebrew: עולל (he) m, תינוק (he) m
• Hindi: शिशु (hi) m (śiśu)
• 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 (にゅうじ, nyūji)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 유아 (ko) (yua)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kyrgyz: наристе (ky) (nariste), бала (ky) (bala)
• Latin: infans m or f
• Livonian: imbiläpš
• Maori: kōhungahunga, piripoho
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Nahuatl: cozcapantica
• Norwegian: spedbarn n
• Occitan: nene m, nenon (oc) m, nenet (oc) m, toston
• Persian: طفل (fa) (tefl), کودک (fa) (kudak)
• Portuguese: infante (pt) m or f
• Romanian: bebeluș (ro) m
• Russian: младе́нец (ru) m (mladénec), (грудной) ребёнок (ru) m (rebjónok), дитя́ (ru) n (ditjá)
• Scottish Gaelic: maothran m
• Slovak: dojča n
• Spanish: nene (es) m, infante (es) m
• Sundanese: ᮇᮛᮧᮊ᮪ (orok)
• Swahili: watoto wachanga (sw)
• Swedish: spädbarn (sv)
• Telugu: శిశువు (te) (śiśuvu), పసిపాప (te) (pasipāpa)
• Thai: ทารก (th) (taa-rók)
• Turkish: bebek (tr)
• Vietnamese: trẻ sơ sinh
• Zulu: ingane class 9/10

legal minor

• Armenian: անչափահաս (hy) (ančʻapʻahas)
• Bulgarian: непълнолетен (bg) (nepǎlnoleten)
• Danish: mindreårig c
• German: Minderjähriger (de) m, Minderjährige (de) f
• Hungarian: kiskorú (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: minorenne (it) m or f, minore (it) m or f
• Norwegian: barn (no) n, mindreårig (no) m
• Portuguese: menor (pt) m or f
• Swedish: underårig

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.
   • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

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

See also

• sudden infant death syndrome
• newborn
• neonate

Anagrams

• Fintan

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Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnfāns, īnfantem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [iɱˈfan]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencian) [iɱˈfant]

Noun

infant m (plural infants)

1. infant, child
2. infante
3. footsoldier

Derived terms

• infanteria

Related terms

• infància

Further reading

• “infant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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Slovak

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Spanish infante and (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Portuguese infante.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈinfant]

Noun

infant m (genitive singular infanta, nominative plural infanti, genitive plural infantov, declension pattern of chlap)

1. prince, infante (son of a king in Spain and, historically, in Portugal)

Declension

Declension of infant

	singular	plural
nominative	infant	infanti
genitive	infanta	infantov
dative	infantovi	infantom
accusative	infanta	infantov
locative	infantovi	infantoch
instrumental	infantom	infantmi

Derived terms

• infantka f

References

• “infant”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024