cygnet
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does cygnet mean? A cygnet is a young swan. The word cygnet is a general term for a young swan that’s used in the same way that the word duckling is used to refer to a young duck or the word gosling is used to refer to a young goose. There are several different kinds of swans, including the mute swan, trumpeter swan, tundra swan, and whooper swan. The young of any swan species can be called cygnets. Example: The ugly duckling in the fairy tale was actually a cygnet—ducklings don’t turn into swans, you know.
Etymology
Origin of cygnet
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English signet, from Latin cygnus, variant of cycnus, from Greek kýknos “swan”; see -et
Explanation
Before they become graceful adults covered in their signature white feathers, swans start out as fluffy gray chicks called cygnets. When they hatch, cygnets are covered in soft, gray feathers, and rely heavily on their parents to protect them and teach them how to swim and find food. As they grow, they shed their downy feathers and develop the sleek, white plumage that swans are famous for. Considering this, it comes as no surprise that in literature cygnets often symbolize the adorably awkward period of childhood and adolescence that comes before maturity.
Vocabulary lists containing cygnet
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Swan Upping is conducted each year to tally swans, and in particular their cygnet offspring, claimed by the British monarch.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2021
Not that we don’t deplore a world in which acorn and cygnet are omitted from the top 10,000 words, but I’m not sure the dictionary is the hill to die on in that fight.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 25, 2018
“You have to check them over to make sure everything is O.K.,” he said, gently picking up the cygnet.
From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2017
Eggs take 35 days to hatch from when they are laid, and the first cygnet to appear at the swannery is traditionally said to mark the beginning of summer.
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2010
Diogenes Laertius reports the story of Socrates having dreamed he found an unfledged cygnet on his knee.
From Christianity and Greek Philosophy or, the relation between spontaneous and reflective thought in Greece and the positive teaching of Christ and His Apostles by B. F. (Benjamin Franklin) Cocker
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
