infant
n. countablen. a very young child or baby. You usually use this word in medical, legal, or formal situations rather than in casual conversation.
n. a child in the earliest stage of life, typically before they can walk or talk. In legal contexts, it may refer to any person under the age of majority, though this usage is increasingly rare outside of specific jurisdictions.
The nurse carefully weighed the infant during the checkup.
Medical professionals often use the term infant to describe a child from birth up to one year of age.
While the common definition refers to a baby, the legal status of an infant historically granted certain protections to any individual who had not yet reached adulthood.
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.
Commonly used as a noun, but can also function as an attributive noun in phrases like 'infant mortality' or 'infant formula'.