Dictionary

infantilize en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ɪnˈfæn.tɪ.laɪz/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

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 From infantile + -ize (“make into”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To reduce (an adult) to the state or status of an infant.
   • Once [Chile] began the transition to democracy in the 1990s, two journalists, Álvaro Díaz González and Pedro Peirano, set out to design a children’s show that they themselves would want to watch – steeped in humor and political criticism, and where children wouldn’t be infantilized. 2026 June 4, Andalusia K. Soloff, “Politics and puppets: The enduring appeal of ‘31 Minutos’”, in The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Massachusetts: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC:
   • For too long, many of us have sought unity by binding ourselves together with the umbilical cords of dogma. They have done less and less to nurture us in recent years, and more and more to infantilize us. 1984 August 18, Scott Tucker, “The Politics of Perversion”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 6, page 8:
2. (transitive) To treat (an adult) like a child.

Forms

Antonyms

adultify

Deriveds

infantilizer · infantilization

Relateds

babygirlification

Translations (20)

it infantilizzare (to reduce to the state of an infant) · fi infantilisoida (to reduce to the state of an infant) · nl infantiliseren (to treat like a child) · nl infantiliseren (to reduce to the state of an infant) · fr infantiliser (to reduce to the state of an infant) · sv förbarnsliga (to treat like a child) · pt infantilizar (to reduce to the state of an infant) · es infantilizar (to treat like a child) · ca infantilitzar (to treat like a child) · pt infantilizar (to treat like a child) · it infantilizzare (to treat like a child) · fr infantiliser (to treat like a child) · ca infantilitzar (to reduce to the state of an infant) · pl infantylizować (to treat like a child) · de infantilisieren (to reduce to the state of an infant) · es infantilizar (to reduce to the state of an infant) · eo infanigi (to treat like a child) · de infantilisieren (to treat like a child) · pl zinfantylizować (to treat like a child) · fi kohdella kuin lasta (to treat like a child)