Where does “infants” come from?
Infants comes from Middle English infante, from Latin infantem, the accusative of infans, meaning "unable to speak," formed from the prefix in- (not) and infans derived from Proto-Indo-European ne (not) and bʰeh₂- (to speak).
infants (English): plural of infant
Definitions
- plural of infant
Ancestry of “infants”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | infant | A very young human being, from birth to somewhere... |
| 2 | Middle English | infaunt | baby, infant |
| 3 | Latin | īnfāntem | — |
| 4 | Latin | īnfāns | speechless, inarticulate |
| 5 | Latin | īn- | un-, non-, not |
| 6 | Latin | în | in, at, on, upon, from (space) |
| 7 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |