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Added 4 October 2026

young

/jʌŋ/ adjective

In Latin: iuvenis, puer, puella Wiktionary

adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about young at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

In the early part of growth or life; born not long ago.
a lamb is a young sheep
At an early stage of existence or development; having recently come into existence.
the age of space travel is still young
Junior (of two related people with the same name).

noun

Offspring, especially the immature offspring of animals.
The lion caught a gnu to feed its young.

verb

To become or seem to become younger.
To cause to appear younger.
To exhibit younging.

Origin

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”). Cognates 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”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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