young
/jʌŋ/ adjective, noun, verb, proper noun
Forms younger youngest youngs younging younged
- adjective In the early part of growth or life; born not long ago. “a lamb is a young sheep”
- adjective At an early stage of existence or development; having recently come into existence. “the age of space travel is still young”
- adjective (Not) advanced in age; (far towards or) at a specified stage of existence or age. “How young is your dog?”
- adjective Junior (of two related people with the same name).
- adjective Early (of a decade of life).
- adjective Youthful; having the look or qualities of a young person. “My grandmother is a very active woman and is quite young for her age.”
- adjective Of or belonging to the early part of life. “The cynical world soon shattered my young dreams.”
- adjective (obsolete) Having little experience; inexperienced; unpracticed; ignorant; weak.
- noun (often as if a plural noun) Offspring, especially the immature offspring of animals. “The lion caught a gnu to feed its young.”
- verb (informal or demography) To become or seem to become younger.
- verb (informal or demography) To cause to appear younger.
- verb (geology) To exhibit younging.
- proper noun A British distinguishing surname transferred from the nickname for the younger of two people having the same given name.
- proper noun A Chinese surname from Cantonese.
- proper noun A Chinese surname from Hokkien.
- proper noun A Chinese surname from Mandarin.
- proper noun A village in Saskatchewan, Canada.
- proper noun An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Gila County, Arizona.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Brown Township, Morgan County, Indiana.
- proper noun A township in Indiana County, Pennsylvania.
Synonyms
youthful juvenile underdeveloped undeveloped immature junior baby-faced hebetic youngling youngly youngsome youngthly youthly youthsome offspring Loretta Young Whitney Young Whitney Moore Young Jr. Thomas Young Pres Young Lester Willis Young Edward Young Cy Young Danton True Young Brigham Young youth new vernal unseasoned untested
Antonyms
old aged grown up senior youthless elderly mature experienced veteran
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English yong, yonge, from Old English ġeong, from Proto-West Germanic *jung, from Proto-Germanic *jungaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂yuHn̥ḱós, from *h₂yuh₁en- (“young”).
Cognate with Alemannic German jung, jungu, junhs, jungà, jòng (“young”), Bavarian junk (“young”), Central Franconian, Luxembourgish jonk (“young”), Cimbrian djung, jung, junk (“young”), Dutch jong (“young”), German, German Low German, Mòcheno and Vilamovian jung (“young”), Limburgish jong, jonk (“young”), Yiddish יונג (yung, “young”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish ung (“young”), Faroese, Icelandic ungur (“young”), Gothic 𐌾𐌿𐌲𐌲𐍃 (juggs, “young”).
* As an English, Scottish, and northern Irish surname, from the adjective young, used to distinguish a younger brother or son. This sense is comparable to the surnames le Yunge, German Jong and Junk, Dutch Jong and de Jongh, French Lejeune and LaJeunesse, assimilated from Dion and Guyon.
* As a Chinese surname, from the following:
** Cantonese 楊 /杨 (joeng⁴). Doublet of Yeung.
** Hokkien 楊 /杨 (iông / iâng). Doublet of Yu, Yeo, Yeoh.
** Mandarin 楊 /杨 (yáng). Doublet of Yang.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Not long born; still in the first part of life; not yet arrived at adolescence, maturity, or age; not old; juvenile; --said of animals; as, a young child; a young man; a young fawn.
- adjective Being in the first part, pr period, of growth; as, a young plant; a young tree.
- noun The offspring of animals, either a single animal or offspring collectively.
Etymology [OE. yung, yong, , , AS. geong; akin to OFries. iung, iong, D. joing, OS., OHG., & G. jung, Icel. ungr, Sw. & Dan. ung, Goth. juggs, Lith. jaunas, Russ. iunuii, L. juvencus, juvenis, Skr. juva, juven. Junior, Juniper, Juvenile, Younker, Youth.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “young”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details