youngling

American  

[yuhng-ling] / ˈyʌŋ lɪŋ /

noun

1. a young person.

2. anything young, as a young animal.

3. a novice; a beginner.

---

adjective

1. young; youthful.

youngling British  

/ ˈjʌŋlɪŋ /

noun

1. literary

   1. a young person, animal, or plant

   2. ( as modifier )

      a youngling brood

---

Etymology

Origin of youngling

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

Example Sentences

Grogu is a youngling who is strong in the Force.

From Los Angeles Times • May 3, 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

She is to bring the youngling out and then go back to tell her story to the mother how sweetly it passed away—ah, ah—how heavenly was its smile.

From The Firebrand by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)