infant
Syllables: in·fant/ˈɪn.fənt/
infant noun: a very young human being, from birth to somewhere between six months and two years of age after birth, needing almost constant care and attention.
Noun
infant (plural infants)
- A very young human being, from birth to somewhere between six months and two years of age after birth, needing almost constant care and attention.
- Synonyms:
- baby
- A minor.
- 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, ...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...
- A student in an infant school or the first part of a primary school.
- A noble or aristocratic youth.
- Retourned home, the royall Infant fell / Into her former fitt [...].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
Adjective
infant (not comparable)
- Of or pertaining to the earlier half of primary school education.
- Primary schooling in Ireland comprises two Infant years, which are equivalent to pre-school in other countries , and six grades or classes.2019, Sandra Ballweg, Portfolioarbeit im Kontext von Sprachenunterricht, Göttingen University Press, →ISBN, page 26
- Clearly, from the attention given to it, HMI believed that history should be part of the infant curriculum.2022 November 21, Carol Aubrey, The Role of Subject Knowledge in the Early Years of Schooling, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN
- small, being near its source.
- Leaving Nantyglo, a small station at an altitude of 1,030 ft. with the platform on the eastern side, the train runs northwards over former G.W.R. metals, with the infant River Ebbw, a little more than a yard wide, on the west.1957 October, William J. Skillern, “The Brynmawr & Western Valleys Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 696
Verb
infant (third-person singular simple present infants, present participle infanting, simple past and past participle infanted)
- To bear or bring forth (a child); to produce, in general.
- This worthy motto, "No bishop, no king," is […] infanted out of the same fears.1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Causes that hitherto have Hindred it. […], [London]: […] Thomas Vnderhill, →OCLC
infant meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
infant in Hindi
- very young human being
- शिशु śiśu
- legal minor
- बालक bālak, बालिका bālikā
infant in Tamil
- கைக்குழந்தை, பச்சிளங்குழந்தை, குழந்தை
infant in Urdu
- infant, baby
- شیر خوار šīr-xwār
infant in Bengali
- very young human being
- বাচ্চা bacca
- legal minor
- বাচ্চা bacca
More languagesFewer languages
- infant in Telugu
- శిశువు śiśuvu, పసిపాప pasipāpa
- infant in Malayalam
- ശിശു, ഉണ്ണി, കുഞ്ഞ്, കുട്ടി
- infant in Kannada
- ಶಿಶು śiśu
- infant in Gujarati
- શિશુ śiśu
- infant in Odia
- ଛୁଆ chuā
- infant in Assamese
- পানী-কেঁচুৱা pani-kẽsua
- infant in Tagalog
- sanggol
- infant in Arabic
- رَضِيع raḍīʕ
- infant in Persian
- طفل tefl, کودک kudak, نوزاد nowzâd
- infant in Thai
- เด็กอ่อน dèk-ɔ̀ɔn, เด็กน้อย dèk-nɔ́ɔi, ทารก taa-rók, ทาริกา taa-rí-gaa
- infant in Vietnamese
- trẻ sơ sinh
- infant in Myanmar
- ကလေး ka.le:, နို့စို့ကလေး nui.cui.ka.le:
Examples of infant in a sentence
- He couldn't get the infant off until nearly two in the morning.
- She stayed up all night to watch over the sick infant.
- Perinatal HIV infection of infants is a problem in sub-Saharan Africa.
Synonyms of infant
Forms of infant
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | infants |
| alternative form (obsolete) | infaunt |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | infants |
| present participle | infanting |
| past participle | infanted |
| past | infanted |
Origin of infant
Inherited from Middle English infaunt, 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. Doublet of infante.
Words formed from infant
- floppy infant syndrome
- infantcare
- infant formula
- infanthood
- infant industry
- infantize
- infantlike
- infantly
- infant massage
- infant mortality
- infantocracy
- infantometer
- infantophile
- infantophilia
- infantophobe
- infantophobia
- infantorium
- infant respiratory distress syndrome
- infant safety seat
- infant school
- infant seat
- infant star
- infantswear
- infantwear
- junior infant
- nigfant
- noninfant
- Puerto Rican infant hypotonia syndrome
- senior infant
- swimfant
- terrible infant
Phrases with infant
- infant seats
- infant stars
- infant formulæ
- infant schools
- infant formulae
- infant formulas
- infant massages
- infant industries
- infant mortalities
- infant safety seats
- infant mortality rate
- infant mortality rates
1 more phrasesFewer phrases
Questions about infant
- What does infant mean?
- Infant means a very young human being, from birth to somewhere between six months and two years of age after birth, needing almost constant care and attention.
- What is infant in Hindi?
- Infant in Hindi is शिशु (śiśu), बालक (bālak), बालिका (bālikā). See Infant meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is infant?
- Infant can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce infant?
- Infant is pronounced /ˈɪn.fənt/.
- What is the plural of infant?
- The plural of infant is infants.
Words near infant in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: infant (page history and authors); infant (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); شیر خوار (Urdu) (page history and authors); infant (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಶಿಶು (Kannada) (page history and authors); શિશુ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); ଛୁଆ (Odia) (page history and authors); পানী-কেঁচুৱা (Assamese) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-infant.ogg.
Cite this entry: “infant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/infant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.