Infant

Infante

Infants with gifts.

In several countries, infant (from the Latin infantis, “the one who does not speak”) is a legal name for minors, including children from zero to five years old;^{[citation required]} and is also understood as a young boy or girl, who has not reached the period of adolescence or is less than 11 years of age and is in the childhood stage.

In addition, infants are defined as: a) the foot soldier, and b) the legitimate son of the king, who is not the direct heir to the throne.

Chilean Marines.

Etymology

The word infant is a common noun of feminine and masculine gender; occasionally in the feminine gender infanta is used; the plural is infantes and infantas. It comes from the Latin infans, infantis (nominative -infant- and genitive -of the infante- singular). It is composed of the prefix in-, for negation, and the present participle of the verb fāri: "to speak". they had learned to speak.

When infante means 'child who has not yet reached adolescence and is in childhood', the most frequent and recommended form is to use the form infante for both the masculine and the feminine: «la infante He's in the park playing."

A use of this word occurs in commercial aviation, when it is determined in the ticket or ticket infant, which is granted to children under two years of age.

When it means infantry soldier, it is commonly used in terms of gender: the marine infantry.

When the word has the meaning of son of the king, the form infante is used for the masculine and the form infanta for the feminine.

Infant as royal title

Sofia de Borbón —infanta de España—in the act of imposing decorations of the Order of Civil Merit (19 June 2019).

Infante is also a title of royalty that in Spain is granted to the children of the King who do not have the status of Prince or Princess of Asturias.

On the other hand, Spanish legislation allows the king, or in his case the queen, to grant said title, at his discretion and exceptionally, to persons worthy of such merit (infants of grace).

The regulation of the title of infant is contained in Royal Decree 1368/1987, of November 6, on the regime of titles, treatments and honors of the Royal Family and the Regents.

In the old peninsular kingdoms such as the Portuguese, Castilian and Aragonese, among others, the use of the title of infante was as described above in relation to the Hispanic monarchy, applied to children not titled as Prince of Asturias, Gerona, Viana or Beira, respectively.

In Portugal, the names infante and infanta continued in use throughout history until the abolition of the monarchy in the Revolution of October 5, 1910, the same day the Portuguese Republican Party established the First Portuguese Republic.

In the case of the Crown of France, the minor children of the kings were titled Enfants de France (Infants of France) or Fils de France (Sons of France). Their children were treated as Petits-Fils de France (Grandchildren of France), in their capacity as grandchildren of the king exclusively through the paternal line.