What's the difference between 赤ん坊　and 赤ちゃん

Question

Are both words interchangeable? Rikai-chan defines them both as "baby, infant". So what would be the difference?

ジョン · Answer 1 · 2012-06-12 06:42:44Z

up vote 4 down vote

In many contexts they are interchangeable, but strictly speaking 赤ん坊 is the actual word for baby, and 赤ちゃん is like a cute, pet name derived from it.

Also, 赤ん坊 is the spoken (colloquial) form - see sawa's comment for versions that may be more appropriate for formal writing.

edited Jun 12 '12 at 6:42

answered Jun 12 '12 at 5:48

ジョン
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Perhaps another point is that 赤ちゃん is more common in colloquial and common usage, I think. – yadokari Jun 12 '12 at 6:20

2

赤子 is archaic. You do not use it any more. Formal ways of saying it are 新生児, 乳児, 幼児, or 乳幼児, which cover different ages. – sawa Jun 12 '12 at 6:26

1 Answer