baby-faced

The term is a modern English compound adjective, a straightforward combination of two concrete nouns. 'Baby', a Middle English word of imitative origin, evokes the specific qualities of an infant. 'Face', with a long lineage from Latin 'facies' meaning form or appearance, provides the anatomical locus. The suffix '-ed' is a productive Germanic adjectival ending, used to mean "having or provided with," as seen in words like 'bearded' or 'talented'. The logic of the word is transparently literal: it directly describes a person possessing a face that exhibits the characteristic youthfulness, smoothness, or roundness associated with a baby, implying innocence or a lack of maturity.

Structure: baby (infant) + face (countenance) + ed (adjective suffix) - baby: From Middle English 'babi', of imitative origin (baby talk). Functional role: Noun root acting as a modifier. - face: From Old French 'face', from Vulgar Latin 'facia', from Latin 'facies' (form, appearance, face). Functional role: Noun root acting as the core object. - ed: From Old English '-ede', '-ode', '-ad', forming adjectives from nouns. Functional role: Derivational suffix forming a compound adjective.