youngster

American  

[yuhng-ster] / ˈjʌŋ stər /

noun

• youngsters
  plural

1. a child.

2. a young person.

   Synonyms:

   girl, boy, stripling, lad, youth

3. a young horse or other animal.

4. (in the British navy) a midshipman of less than four years' standing.

5. (in the U.S. Naval Academy) a midshipman in the second year.

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youngster British  

/ ˈjʌŋstə /

noun

1. a young person; child or youth

2. a young animal, esp a horse

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• youngsters
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of youngster

First recorded in 1580–90; young + -ster

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Explanation

Youngster is a good, generic way to talk about a person who's younger than you are, especially a child. If you babysit a neighborhood kid, you can describe him as a youngster. The noun youngster is a casual word meaning "child," and its synonyms include tyke and small fry. Older people sometimes use it to refer to adults who are younger than they are: "You youngsters can keep playing cards, but I'm going to bed!" Youngster has been around since the 1500's, when it replaced the earlier youngling.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

youngster youngsters

TikTok videos posted by Benson showed the youngster performing tricks outside a Hilton hotel plaza and in the middle of a residential street.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

Jim Rigby, who baptized Talarico and married his parents, remembers the youngster as a "calming presence."

From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 2026

Team-mate Nicolas Jackson, another to join Villa in the transfer window in a deal worth up to £65m from Chelsea, was quick to praise the youngster.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

I enjoy merch as much as any youngster and I have ideas for oldsters like me.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

A fragment of memory returned—recollection of myself as a youngster reading Lillian Smith’s Strange Fruit, her description of the Negro boy stopping along a lonely path to urinate.

From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin

Citing what it describes as "damning findings" within the report, the paper says "youngsters in Blackpool, for example, are 27 times more likely to miss school than those in Lambeth".

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

"But I'm still there, still grinding, still making the youngsters work for their money. I'm just glad to push it through."

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

Under the proposed scheme, youngsters would be offered posts in the private sector, with the government paying half their salary.

From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026

Nonetheless, the team will still feature plenty of intrigue roster-wise, with a mix of youngsters “doing TikToks” and “old heads” trying to keep up, as Garland described it.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

The two youngsters didn’t know where to put themselves, and nor did Julius, at this embarrassing mishap.

From "Tiger, Tiger" by Lynne Reid Banks

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Related Words

• boy
• child
• girl
• juvenile
• kid
• pupil
• student
• teenager
• youth

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