婴儿

• Pinyin: yīng ér
• Hanzi breakdown: 婴 = 女 + 贝 + 贝 (woman + two shells — originally depicted a child wearing shell ornaments, hence newborn); 儿 = 儿 (child/person, simplified from 兒)

Meaning

Infant; baby (typically from birth to around one year old).

A formal and standard term used in medical, legal, educational, and official contexts. More precise than the colloquial 宝宝. Commonly appears in phrases like 婴儿期 (infancy), 新生婴儿 (newborn), and 婴儿配方奶粉 (infant formula).

Examples

1. 新生儿重症监护团队成功救活了这名仅七百克的婴儿。 The neonatal intensive care team successfully saved this infant, who weighed only 700 grams.
2. 受育儿成本上升和生育意愿下降影响，过去五年全国婴儿出生率持续下滑。 Driven by rising child-rearing costs and lower fertility intentions, the national infant birth rate has kept falling over the past five years.
3. 这套课程面向零到十二个月婴儿，用感官训练和亲子游戏促进大脑发育。 This course is designed for infants from zero to twelve months old and uses sensory training and parent-child games to promote brain development.

Usage Guide

Context: medical, parenting, demographics, law

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 母乳是婴儿出生后前六个月最理想的天然食物，任何配方奶都难以替代。(Breast milk is the ideal natural food for infants in the first six months after birth, and no formula can fully replace it.)
• 法院依据儿童最大利益原则，裁定婴儿抚养权归能提供更稳定环境的一方。(Applying the principle of the child's best interests, the court ruled that custody of the infant should go to the party able to provide a more stable environment.)

Don't Say

• 我的婴儿今天很乖 — while not wrong, 婴儿 in casual speech about one's own baby sounds overly clinical; use 宝宝 or 孩子 in everyday family contexts; reserve 婴儿 for medical reports and official documents

Origin & History

婴 (infant — 女 woman radical + 贝贝 originally depicting a baby adorned with shell ornaments, meaning newborn child) + 儿 (child, person)

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal