infant

• infaunt (obsolete)

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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.fənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪnfənt
• Hyphenation: in‧fant

infant (plural infants)

2. 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.

   Synonym: baby

3. (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, ...

4. (countable, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) A student in an infant school or the first part of a primary school.

   Coordinate term: junior

5. (obsolete) A noble or aristocratic youth.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

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

infant (not comparable)

1. (not comparable, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) Of or pertaining to the earlier half of primary school education.

   Coordinate term: junior

   • 2019, Sandra Ballweg, Portfolioarbeit im Kontext von Sprachenunterricht, Göttingen University Press, →ISBN, page 26:

     Primary schooling in Ireland comprises two Infant years, which are equivalent to pre-school in other countries , and six grades or classes.

   • 2022 November 21, Carol Aubrey, The Role of Subject Knowledge in the Early Years of Schooling, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN:

     Clearly, from the attention given to it, HMI believed that history should be part of the infant curriculum.

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.
   • 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, →OCLC:

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

• Fintan

Borrowed from Latin īnfantem.

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

infant m (plural infants)

1. infant, child
2. infante
3. footsoldier

• infanteria
• infantesa

• infància

• “infant”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Borrowed from Spanish infante, from Latin īnfāns.

• IPA^(key): [ˈɪnfant]
• Hyphenation: in‧fant

infant m anim (female equivalent infantka)

1. (historical) infante (son of the king of Spain or Portugal)

• “infant”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “infant”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “infant”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

infant m (plural infants, feminine infante)

1. infant (title)

• “infant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

infant

1. alternative form of infaunt

Borrowed from Spanish infante and Portuguese infante, from Latin īnfāns.

• IPA^(key): /ˈin.fant/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -infant
• Syllabification: in‧fant

infant m pers (female equivalent infantka)

1. infante

• infant in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• infant in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Derived from Spanish infante and Portuguese infante.

• IPA^(key): [ˈinfant]

infant m pers (female equivalent infantka)

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

• “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, 2003–2025