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infant

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

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.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

infuhnt

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɪnfənt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

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. countablechiefly ukirelandcommonwealth

    A student in an infant school or the first part of a primary school.

  3. law

    A minor.

adjective

  1. figurativeof a river

    Small, being near its source.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: 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.

Used this way, infant is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • babe , more formal, and heavier in everyday conversation

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Student / pertaining

infant school

Young

newborn infantpremature infantinfant son

Other combinations

infant mortalityinfant deathinfant feedinginfant baptism

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • infant prodigynounCompound term

    A prodigy whose talents are recognized at an early age.

  • infant schoolnounCompound term

    British school for children aged 5-7.

  • infant feedingnounCompound term

    Feeding an infant.

  • infant deathratenounCompound term

    The death rate during the first year of life.

  • infant mortalitynounCompound term

    The death rate during the first year of life.

  • infant deathnounCompound term

    Sudden and unexpected death of an apparently healthy infant during sleep.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • infantileadjectiveRelated term

    Of or relating to infants or infancy.

  • roseola infantilisnounRelated term

    A viral disease of infants and young children.

  • roseola infantumnounRelated term

    A viral disease of infants and young children.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.