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infant

Pronunciation: /ˈɪn.fənt/

The English word “infant” has 7 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. 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.
  2. A minor.
  3. A student in an infant school or the first part of a primary school.
  4. A noble or aristocratic youth.

adjective

  1. Of or pertaining to the earlier half of primary school education.
  2. small, being near its source.

verb

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

Etymology

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.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.