also: しょうじ
Medical or formal term for a young child, often used in contexts like 小児科 (pediatrics). In everyday speech, 子供 is more common.
Pediatrics is the medical department that treats children's illnesses.
この薬は小児には使用できません。
This medicine cannot be used for young children.
My son regularly sees a pediatrician for his asthma.
I was prescribed a fever reducer formulated for children.
幼児 specifically means a toddler or infant before school age, whereas 小児 can cover a wider medical age range up to adolescence.
成人 means an adult, forming the natural medical contrast to 小児 (a young child), as in 小児科 vs 成人科.
小人 (こびと) means 'dwarf' or 'little person', which learners may confuse with 小児 (しょうに, 'young child') due to the similar 小-kanji pairing.
counter for people
pediatrics
childhood diseases; pediatric diseases
childhood cancer; pediatric cancer
childhood asthma; infantile asthma
pedophilia; pederosis
Standard kanji spelling; the reading しょうに is the modern standard.
Obsolete reading; it is out-dated kana usage.
Compound of 小 (small) and 児 (child). The reading しょうに is the standard Sino-Japanese on'yomi; しょうじ is an older, now obsolete reading.
pediatric anesthesia
celiac disease; coeliac disease
infantile pseudocholera