Dictionary

infantilization en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English infantile Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)bor. Late Latin -izōder. Middle French -iserbor. Middle English -isen English -ize English infantilize Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin -ātiōlbor. Old French -ationbor. Middle English -acioun English -ation English infantilization From infantilize + -ation.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The act or process of infantilizing, treating a non-infant as an infant, or more generally treating an adult like a young child.
   • Nursing homes lead to an infantilization of the elderly.
   • In both cases, a key ingredient has been the drastic infantilization of the national culture: from the pious idea of ‘family reading’ that launched the Bowdlerization of Victorian literature, to the syrupy replica—the family, smiling at its TV—that has put American entertainment to sleep. 2013, Franco Moretti, “[Introduction: Concepts and Contradictions] ‘The bourgeois is lost . . .’”, in The Bourgeois: Between History and Literature, London; Brooklyn, N.Y.: Verso, published 2014, →ISBN, page 23:
   • In the context of asexuality, it has led to the infantilization of people who are aspec, and in a lot of cases has pressured ace people to have sex, simply because they didn’t think not wanting to have sex was an option. 2020 February 4, “Asexuality, Explained Through Cake”, in The Link, retrieved 06 Apr 2020:

Forms

Antonyms

adultification

Translations (10)

pt infantilização (Translations) · it infantilizzazione (Translations) · de Infantilisierung (Translations) · ca infantilització (Translations) · es infantilización (Translations) · de Bevormundung (Translations) · fr infantilisation (Translations) · pl infantylizacja (Translations) · de Verkindlichung (Translations) · gl infantilización (Translations)