gadling

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gadling

/ˈɡæd.lɪŋ/

Where it comes from

From Middle English gadelyng (“companion in arms; man, fellow; a person of low birth; rascal, scoundrel; bastard; base, lowborn”), gadeling (“vagabond”), from Old English geaduling, gædeling (“kinsman, fellow, companion in arms, comrade”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaduling, from Proto-Germanic *gadulingaz, *gadilingaz (“relative, kinsman”), equivalent to gad + -ling. Related to Old English ġegada (“comrade, companion”).

noun gadlings

obsolete A companion in arms; fellow; comrade. Gedlyngis, I am a fulle grete wat, […]
A roving vagabond; one who roams. I'm delighted to see you. You're as brown, my gadling, as though you had returned from another journey to the East with Jean de Village.
A man of humble condition; a fellow; a low fellow; lowborn. Originally comrade or companion in a good sense, but later used in reproach. “Pest on him!” said De Aquila. “I have more to do than to shiver in the Great Hall for every gadling the King sends. Left he no word?”
A spike on a gauntlet; a gad.

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MLA

"gadling." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gadling. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

gadling. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gadling

Chicago

"gadling." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gadling.

BibTeX

@misc{gadling_2026,
  title = {gadling},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gadling},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}