One way to picture it: the very first stretch of a life, when the thing is so new it cannot yet stand on its own — a baby who has not learned to walk or speak, entirely at the start of everything it will become.
From the word’s history
From Latin īnfantia, literally the state of being īnfāns — 'not speaking' (in- 'not' + fārī 'to speak'). The word originally names the stage before speech, which is exactly the stage before a thing can express what it will become.
拉丁文 īnfantia 來自 īnfāns，字面是「不說話的」(in- 不 + fārī 說話)。這個字原本標記的就是「還不會開口」的那一段，正好對上核心畫面裡「已經在了，但還說不出、做不到」的階段。
Wiktionary: infancy < Middle English infancie < Latin īnfantia, from īnfāns (in- + fārī 'to speak')
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
infancynoun/ˈɪnfənsi/
- 1
The earliest period of childhood (crawling rather than walking).
- 2
The state of being an infant.
- 3
An early stage in the development of anything.
- Space tourism is still in its infancy.
- It was in November, 1932, in an endeavour to reduce working costs, that the first diesel railcar was introduced, and it was a far-sighted move on the part of Mr. D. N. McClure, for diesel propulsion on railways was then more or less in its infancy.
- 4
lawThe state of being a minor.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。