infant

Word family

in·fant1 /ˈɪnfənt/ W3 noun

1 [countableC] formalBABY/HAVE A BABY a baby or very young child 婴儿；幼儿

An infant’s skin is very sensitive.

幼儿的皮肤非常敏感。

► see thesaurus at baby → Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

2. infants [plural]SES children in school in Britain between the ages of four and eight 〔英国学校里四至八岁的〕学童

n COLLOCATIONS – Meaning 1 : a baby or very young child

adjectives

a young infant

The never-ending demands of a young infant can be very stressful for parents.

a newborn infant

Newborn infants only a few hours old can distinguish between different voices.

an unborn infant

Unborn infants can hear certain sounds while still in the mother’s womb.

a premature infant (=born too early)

The hospital provides life-saving care to premature infants.

a healthy infant

Amy gave birth to a healthy infant.

a sick infant

Sick infants are treated in the intensive care nursery.

infant + NOUN

infant deaths

The number of infant deaths has fallen significantly.

infant mortality (=the number of infants who die)

The infant mortality rate doubled during the 1990s.

Examples from the Corpus

infant• The couple have a three-year-old son and an infant daughter.• Her parents both died when she was an infant.• An infant illuminates the foreground so brightly that the background fades.• There are clear differences in speed of learning between infants at this early stage.• I believe the First Mate, Mr Brown, treated me kindly; he consigned my dead infant to its watery fate.• The key similarity for Freud lies in the dominance of unconscious processes both for infants and for early man.• There has been a sharp rise in infant mortality since the drought began.• Doctors and other health experts consider it wise to safeguard infants by giving supplementary vitamins.• Measuring the infant, administering vitamin K and eye ointment, and bathing the infant must be saved for later. 6.• I must give you my personal assurances that this infant is receiving perfect care.• Grandmothers approached us, playful girls and young women with infants slung in cloths across their backs.

infant2 adjectiveadj [only before noun]

1. infant school/teacher/class etc a school, teacher etc for children aged between four and eight in Britain 〔英国教授四至八岁儿童的〕儿童学校/教师/班级等

Examples from the Corpus

infant school/teacher/class etc• At this time Syeduz was nearly six and in his second term in the infant school.• An infant school built in 1840 served both Seaton and Sigglesthorne.• Read in studio An infant school has reopened after being severely damaged by arsonists.• Children attended infant school until they were seven.• Ah, but here was a job: the infant teacher was called away for half an hour.• This infant school was sometimes part of a junior school which catered for seven to eleven year olds.• The limit for first-year infants classes will be 27 and for classes of children of mixed ages, 24.

2 intended for babies or very young children 供婴[幼]儿用的

infant formula milk

婴(幼)儿配方奶

3 NEWan infant company, organization etc has just started to exist or be developed 〔公司、组织等〕刚成立的，初创的

infant industries

新兴工业

Examples from the Corpus

infant• But because men lack the experience and confidence, infant care training can help.• Improved nutrition, poverty reduction, maternal education and better medical services have combined to halve infant mortality.• It does not require science to inform us that infants require infant care and children require child care.• These prompted a resourceful Hodder editor to ask the Naylors whether their concept could be adapted into books for infant school children.

Origin infant1