sapling
Americannoun
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saplings
plural
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a young tree.
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a young person.
noun
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a young tree
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literary a youth
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sapling
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at sap 1, -ling 1
Explanation
A young tree with a slender trunk is known as a sapling. Just as a young duck is called a "duckling," a young tree is called a sapling. The suffix "-ling" comes from Old English and often shows up today at the end of words to mean "young" or "youngster." Brothers and sisters are called siblings. A baby goose is called a gosling. Someone who works under you is called an underling. The way to remember the meaning of sapling is that trees make "sap" — the sweet, sugary liquid that, in sugar maples, gets turned into syrup. A young tree, then, is known as a sapling. One day, it'll make sap.
Vocabulary lists containing sapling
The Secret Life of Bees
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A Thousand Splendid Suns
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Pax
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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.
See Examples For:
The mayor gave each of them a pine sapling.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
"Ultimately we don't understand it but we would really like the sapling back," he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
Jez Westgarth, the trust's assistant director for Cumbria and Lancashire, said his team believed the sapling was taken from the remote site to be replanted elsewhere.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
Tyler and Cora steady a western redbud sapling as Atticus holds up a bag of soil and Eliza shovels out the fragrant earth.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 23, 2026
With the help of the beaver, Constance bent the yew sapling against the Abbey wall and strung it to the right tension.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
The earliest he can replant is 2029, he said, to ensure parasites from the burned wood don’t affect his saplings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
The scheme began in 2024 and volunteers have so far restored meadows and created scrub banks to protect saplings.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
The planting took place within fenced plots, which are designed to protect young saplings.
From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2026
Only raccoons are said to live in the Karlshorst buildings and birch saplings are sprouting out of a balcony.
From Barron's ● Feb. 8, 2026
In the greenhouse are saplings a meter high, which get loaded onto the truck and driven through the dust.
From "What the Night Sings" by Vesper Stamper
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
