youngster
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Meaning
A child, young person, or young animal.
Structure
Usage
The park was full of youngsters playing football.
He's a bright youngster with a promising future.
The scheme offers discounts for students and youngsters under 18.
Etymology
The word "youngster" is a transparent compound formed within English from its native Germanic elements. The first element, "young," descends from the Proto-Germanic jungaz, which itself derives from the Proto-Indo-European root yeu- meaning "vital force, youthful vigor." The second element, "-ster," is an Old English agent suffix that originally specified a female doer but gradually lost its gendered meaning, becoming a more general label for a person characterized by the root word. Thus, the literal construction "young person" directly and logically conveys its modern meaning of a child or youth, showcasing a straightforward morphological process within the history of the English language.
Analysis
- young: From Old English geong, meaning "young, youthful." It is of Germanic origin, related to Dutch jong and German jung. - ster: A suffix of Germanic origin (Old English -estre), originally forming feminine agent nouns (e.g., spinster), but later developing into a general denoter for a person associated with a particular quality or activity.