youngling

American  

[yuhng-ling] / ˈyʌŋ lɪŋ /

noun

1. a young person.

2. anything young, as a young animal.

3. a novice; a beginner.

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adjective

1. young; youthful.

youngling British  

/ ˈjʌŋlɪŋ /

noun

1. literary

   1. a young person, animal, or plant

   2. ( as modifier )

      a youngling brood

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Etymology

Origin of youngling

before 900; Middle English yongling, Old English geongling; cognate with Dutch jongeling, German Jüngling. See young, -ling ¹

Example Sentences

Best’s Jedi knight saves a youngling Grogu and cuts down clone troopers with his lightsaber so the two can escape into hyperspace, leaving open the possibility that Beq may be seen again on “The Mandalorian.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 22, 2023

The summer dies, but you will always stay A youngling in some future reader’s thought.

From Washington Post • Mar. 31, 2022

Outside, a family of osprey are encouraging a youngling in what appears to be its first flight.

From Salon • Mar. 20, 2022

Jedi candidates were generally identified as children and progressed from youngling to padawan to knight to master.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 1, 2015

Going forward a step, we find the youngling intent in spelling short sentences, or gratifying his juvenile fondness for the fine arts by copying the wood-cuts from his Northern primer.

From The Impending Crisis of the South How to Meet It by Helper, Hinton Rowan