infancy
/ˈɪnfənsi/ noun
Forms infancies
- noun The earliest period of childhood (crawling rather than walking).
- noun The state of being an infant.
- noun (figurative) An early stage in the development of anything. “Space tourism is still in its infancy.”
- noun (law) The state of being a minor.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English infancie, from Latin īnfantia (“infancy, early childhood; childishness”), equivalent to infant + -cy.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The state or period of being an infant; the first part of life; early childhood.
- noun The first age of anything; the beginning or early period of existence; as, the infancy of an art. The infancy and the grandeur of Rome. Arbuthnot.
Etymology [L. infantia: cf. F. enfance. See Infant.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “infancy”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details