young
/jʌŋ
/adjective (younger /ˈjʌŋɡə/, youngest /ˈjʌŋɡɪst/)
1Having lived or existed for only a short time: a young girl young tender mint leaves (as plural noun the young) the young are amazingly resilient...
- Gary Neat, who also lives in the quiet cul-de-sac, said the couple lived there with a young girl.
- Prince Unleashed tells the story of Holly, a young girl forced to live with relatives after a tragic family accident.
- A long time ago a beautiful young girl called Hinemoa lived at Owhata on the eastern shores of the lake.
Synonyms
young people, youths, children, boys and girls, youngsters, young ones, the younger generation, the next generation, juveniles, minors, schoolboys, schoolgirls, whippersnappers, striplings
informal kids, kiddies, young 'uns, lads, lasses
1.1Not as old as the norm or as would be expected: more people were dying young
1.2 [attributive] Relating to or consisting of young people: young love the local Young Farmers' club...
- There was no doubt that the young audience loved what they had just heard.
- This was hardly the time to bring out an issue on love, when the young are busy preparing for exams.
- I love being round young writers, I like to think of writers as a community, as a race.
1.3Immature or inexperienced: she’s very young for her age...
- She seemed young for her age, had blonde hair, and wore heavy makeup.
- They just seemed so immature and young to her now, even though they were only a few years younger.
1.4Having the qualities associated with young people, such as enthusiasm and optimism: all those who are young at heart...
- Sr. Catherine paid tribute to all her Senior Citizens for being so young at heart.
- For the young and young at heart, there's also a number of niteclubs to keep those dancing feet tapping.
- The Bangalore crowd is all young at heart, and the people here are always out having fun, she thinks.
2 (the Younger) Used to denote the younger of two people of the same name: Pitt the Younger
2.1 (younger) Scottish Denoting the heir of a landed commoner: Hugh Magnus Macleod, younger of Macleod
noun [treated as plural]
Offspring, especially of an animal before or soon after birth: many grebes carry their young on their backs...
- Within three days of birth a brood of young may have been led a distance of almost a mile.
- Whooping crane young are fed dragonfly larvae, insects and tadpoles.
- In the spring the hungry animals tear out birds nests and eat eggs and young.
Synonyms
offspring, progeny, family, children, issue, little ones, youngsters, babies;
sons, daughters, heirs, descendants, successors, scions
informal kids, kiddies, nippers, tots, tinies
British informal sprogs
North American informal rug rats
Australian/New Zealand informal ankle-biters
literary babes, the fruit of one's loins
rare progeniture
Phrases
be not getting (or growing) any younger
with young
Derivatives
youngish
/ adjective ...- My first thought was that perhaps they were turned away for their own protection, with it being quite a youngish bar.
- I suppose it attracted a youngish crowd, but I am not so sure about drugs.
- In 15 years, when the 60's generation of priests are dead or retired and the numbers have hit bottom and start to grow again, the ones who are left will be youngish and orthodox.
Origin
Old English g(e)ong, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch jong and German jung, also to youth; from an Indo-European root shared by Latin juvenis.
Young and youth (Old English) are from the same ancient root as Latin juvenis ‘young’, source of juvenile (early 17th century) and rejuvenate (early 19th century). The good die young is a proverb from the late 17th century, but the idea goes back to the ancient Greek playwright Menander, who wrote: ‘Whom the gods love dies young.’ A young turk is now a young person eager for radical change, a meaning that comes from the Young Turks who carried out the revolution of 1908 in the Ottoman Empire and deposed the sultan Abdul Hamid II.