infant
/ˈɪn.fənt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.99 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
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
Example Sentences
- "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, ..."
- "Retourned home, the royall Infant fell / Into her former fitt [...]."
- "Primary schooling in Ireland comprises two Infant years, which are equivalent to pre-school in other countries , and six grades or classes."
- "Clearly, from the attention given to it, HMI believed that history should be part of the infant curriculum."
- "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."
- "This worthy motto, "No bishop, no king," is […] infanted out of the same fears."
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.