- 1(formal or specialist) a baby or very young child a nursery for infants under two their infant son She was seriously ill as an infant. the infant mortality rate Mozart was an infant prodigy (= a child with unusual ability). In North American English infant is only used for a baby, especially a very young one. Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiveyoung, month-old, two-month-old, … verb + infantbreastfeed, feed, nurse, … infant + noundeath, mortality, child, … phrasessudden infant death syndrome See full entry See related entries: Youth, Babies
- 2 (in British and Australian education) a child at school between the ages of four and seven an infant school infant teachers I've known her since we were in the infants (= at infant school). Word Originlate Middle English: from Old French enfant, from Latin infant- ‘unable to speak’, from in- ‘not’ + fant- ‘speaking’ (from the verb fari). Wordfinderageadolescent, age, elderly, generation, infant, juvenile, middle-aged, minor, teenage, youngExtra examples Marjorie looked down at the sleeping infant in her arms. a book on intellectual development in the human infant countries with high infant mortality jaundice in premature infants I’ve known her since we were in the infants. The country has an appallingly high infant mortality rate. The majority of infant teachers are women. We studied newborn infants up to two months old.
Check pronunciation: infant
