Definition of "infancy"

infancy

/ˈɪnfənsi/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural infancies
1. The earliest period of childhood (crawling rather than walking).
2. The state of being an infant.
3. (figurative) An early stage in the development of anything.
  Quotations
  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.
  1941 May, Voyageur, “The Clogher Valley Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 195
4. (law) The state of being a minor.