stripling
/ˈstrɪplɪŋ
/noun archaic or humorous
A young man: he’s a mere stripling...
- Surely, though, there could be no such problem with filming a stripling of a novel, published a mere five years ago?
- Long ago, when Al was a mere stripling of 83, the Players Club gave him a testimonial.
- The police officer, a mere stripling of 35, was called to a nursing home where the woman was visiting a friend.
Synonyms
youth, adolescent, youngster, boy, schoolboy, lad, child, teenager, juvenile, minor, junior, young man, whippersnapper, fledgling;
Scottish laddie, bairn;
West Indian pickney
informal kid, young 'un, nipper, shaver, tot
derogatory brat, urchin, guttersnipe
archaic hobbledehoy
Origin
Middle English: probably from strip2 (from the notion of ‘narrowness’, i.e. slimness) + -ling.