young
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: yŭng
ipa: /jʌŋ/
ipa: /jʊŋɡ/
rhymes: -ʌŋ
Forms: form: younger
form: youngest
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”).
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”).
Senses: examples: text: a lamb is a young sheep
text: these picture books are for young readers
text: Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!
ref: 1809 October 26, William Wordsworth, “The French Revolution as It Appeared to Enthusiasts at Its Commencement”, in Friend, No. 11, ll. 4-5:
text: "What a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There is nothing like dancing after all. I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished society."
ref: 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice:
text: I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
text: At Columbia-Greene, staffers go for the most unadoptable animals to save them from euthanasia. The youngest, healthiest, cutest pets are waiting for you.
ref: 1998, Elizabeth Hess, Lost and Found:
text: The factors related to increase in number of abscondings were younger age, psychiatric problems, multi-drug abuse and living alone.
ref: 1998, Arne Gerdner, Compulsory Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorders, page 85:
text: Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.
ref: 2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34:
text: The number of young children in the US who have died from opioid overdoses has increased significantly, according to a new study on accidental poisonings of children 5 and younger.
ref: 2023 March 8, Jen Christensen, “Young children are increasingly victims of opioid epidemic, study finds”, in CNN:
text: These concerns were shared by other SNP women who told the Guardian there was a chronic lack of support from the party, including for those with younger families.
ref: 2025 March 23, Libby Brooks and Severin Carrell, “‘Hostile environment’ drives many of SNP’s female MSPs to step down before 2026 vote”, in The Guardian:
glosses: In the early part of growth or life; born not long ago.
examples: text: the age of space travel is still young
text: a young business
text: […] while the Fears of the People were young, they were encreas’d strangely by several odd Accidents […]
ref: 1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year, London: E. Nutt et al, page 23:
text: Look at that sky, life's begun / Nights are warm and the days are young
ref: 1975, David Bowie, “Golden Years”, in Station to Station:
text: A team of Irish astronomers have captured an out-of-this-world image of one of the youngest stars known to scientists.
ref: 2023 August 24, Mairead Sheehy, “Irish group captures 'advanced image' of one of the youngest stars known to scientists”, in Irish Examiner:
glosses: At an early stage of existence or development; having recently come into existence.
examples: text: And thou, our Mother, twice two centuries young,
Bend with bright shafts of truth thy bow fresh-strung.
ref: 1906, Robertson Nicoll, Tis Forty Years Since, quoted in T. P.'s Weekly, volume 8, page 462
text: How young is your dog?
text: Her grandmother turned 70 years young last month.
qualifier: Not
glosses: advanced in age; (far towards or) at a specified stage of existence or age.
examples: text: The young Mr. Chester must be in the wrong, and the old Mr. Chester must be in the right.
ref: 1841, The Museum of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art:
glosses: Junior (of two related people with the same name).
examples: text: 1922, E. Barrington, “The Mystery of Stella” in “The Ladies!” A Shining Constellation of Wit and Beauty, Boston: Atlantic Monthly Press, pp. 40-41,
[…] Miss Hessy is as pretty a girl as eye can see, in her young twenties and a bit of a fortune to boot.
text: Ephraim would be in his young thirties.
ref: 1965, Muriel Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate, London: Macmillan, Part One, Chapter 1:
text: […] while this may appeal to older, better-off shoppers, vast numbers, especially those in their teens and young twenties, still want fast, cheap fashion.
ref: 2008 January 20, Alice Fisher, “Grown-up chic is back as high street goes upmarket”, in The Guardian:
glosses: Early. (of a decade of life)
examples: text: Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.
ref: 2013 August 3, “Revenge of the nerds”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
text: My grandmother is a very active woman and is quite young for her age.
glosses: Youthful; having the look or qualities of a young person.
examples: text: The cynical world soon shattered my young dreams.
glosses: Of or belonging to the early part of life.
examples: text: Come, come, elder brother, you are too young in this.
ref: c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
glosses: Having little experience; inexperienced; unpracticed; ignorant; weak.
Synonyms: sense: born not long ago
word: youthful
word: junior
sense: having qualities of a young person
word: youthful
sense: having qualities of a young person
word: juvenile
sense: of or belonging to the early part of life
word: juvenile
sense: inexperienced
word: underdeveloped
sense: inexperienced
word: undeveloped
sense: inexperienced
word: immature
word: baby-faced
word: hebetic
word: young
word: youngling
word: youngly
word: youngsome
word: youngthly
word: youthly
word: youthsome
Hypernyms: word: new
Hyponyms: word: Young & female:
word: girlish
word: nubile
word: Young & male:
word: beardless
word: boyish
word: unbearded
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: bright young people
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: Bright Young Thing
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: bright young thing
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: decades young
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: eat one's young
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: foo young
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: old head on young shoulders
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: only the good die young
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: sweet young thing
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: the good die young
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: the night is young
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: while we're young
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: wise head on young shoulders
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: with young
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: years young
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: you can't put an old head on young shoulders
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: you can't put a wise head on young shoulders
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young adult
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: Young America
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young and keen
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young at heart
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young blood
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young boul
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young boy
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young buck
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young camel
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young donkey
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young-earth creationism
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young Earth creationism
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young earth creationism
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young fogey
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young ginger
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young gun
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young hand
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young head
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young-hearted
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young ice
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: youngish
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young lady
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young-ladyish
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young-ladyism
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: younglet
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: younglike
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: youngling
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: youngly
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young man
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young money
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young moon
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: youngness
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: Young Nick's Head
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young offender
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young pioneer
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: youngster
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: young Turk
sense: Terms derived from young (adjective)
word: youth is wasted on the young
Related terms: word: young adulthood
word: youth
word: callow
word: childish
word: immature
word: puerile
word: coltish
word: juvenal
word: unfledged
word: active
word: inexperienced
word: child