Join free

young

English · Français · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

young¹

  • /jʌŋ/
  • /jʊŋɡ/ Northern England
  • /jʊŋ/ Northern England

Rhymes with -ʌŋ

Where it comes from

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”).

adjective younger · youngest

  1. In the early part of growth or life; born not long ago. a lamb is a young sheep

    Similar: youthful

  2. At an early stage of existence or development; having recently come into existence. the age of space travel is still young
  3. advanced in age; (far towards or) at a specified stage of existence or age. And thou, our Mother, twice two centuries young, Bend with bright shafts of truth thy bow fresh-strung.
  4. Junior (of two related people with the same name). The young Mr. Chester must be in the wrong, and the old Mr. Chester must be in the right.
  5. Early (of a decade of life). 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.
  6. Youthful; having the look or qualities of a young person. 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

    Similar: youthful, juvenile

  7. Of or belonging to the early part of life. The cynical world soon shattered my young dreams.

    Similar: juvenile

  8. obsolete Having little experience; inexperienced; unpracticed; ignorant; weak. Come, come, elder brother, you are too young in this.

    Similar: underdeveloped, undeveloped, immature

Similar: junior, baby-faced, hebetic, young, youngling, youngly, youngsome, youngthly, youthly, youthsome · Opposite: old, aged, grown up, senior, youthless, elderly, mature, experienced, veteran

noun young · youngs

  1. often, as if a plural noun Offspring, especially the immature offspring of animals. The lion caught a gnu to feed its young.

verb youngs · younging · younged

  1. informal To become or seem to become younger. The aging (or younging) of a population refers to the fact that a population, as a unit of observation, is getting older (or younger).
  2. informal To cause to appear younger. Medicare data was "younged" by a month to achieve conformity with the conventional completed ages recorded in the census.
  3. To exhibit younging. Shoshonitic magmatism younged southwards in the Superior Province, commensurate with the southwardly diachronous accretion of allochthonous subprovinces.

Young²

  • /jʌŋ/

Rhymes with -ʌŋ

Where it comes from

* As an English, Scottish, and northern Irish surname, from the adjective young, used to distinguish a younger brother or son. This sense is comparable to the surnames le Yunge, German Jong and Junk, Dutch Jong and de Jongh, French Lejeune and LaJeunesse, assimilated from Dion and Guyon.

* As a Chinese surname, from the following:

** Cantonese 楊 /杨 (joeng⁴). Doublet of Yeung.

** Hokkien 楊 /杨 (iông / iâng). Doublet of Yu, Yeo, Yeoh.

** Mandarin 楊 /杨 (yáng). Doublet of Yang.

proper noun Youngs

  1. countable, uncountable A British distinguishing surname transferred from the nickname for the younger of two people having the same given name.
  2. countable, uncountable A Chinese surname from Cantonese.
  3. countable, uncountable A Chinese surname from Hokkien.
  4. countable, uncountable A Chinese surname from Mandarin.
  5. countable, uncountable A village in Saskatchewan, Canada.
  6. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community and census-designated place in Gila County, Arizona.
  7. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Brown Township, Morgan County, Indiana.
  8. countable, uncountable A township in Indiana County, Pennsylvania.
  9. countable, uncountable A township in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.
  10. countable, uncountable An unincorporated community in Jackson County, West Virginia.
  11. countable, uncountable A city in Río Negro department, Uruguay.
  12. countable, uncountable A town in Hilltops council area, South West Slopes Region, New South Wales, Australia.
  13. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Young County
  14. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Young Parish
  15. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Young River
  16. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Young Lake
  17. abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Mount Young

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: youth, youthful, adolescent, teen, teenaged, baby, infant, childly, infantile, schoolboyish, boylike, boyish, junior, schoolgirlish, girlish, puppyish

adjective

Similar: junior, baby-faced, hebetic, young, youngling, youngly, youngsome, youngthly, youthly, youthsome · Opposite: old, aged, grown up, senior, youthless, elderly, mature, experienced, veteran

Translations

Every language

adj as if young

한국어어리다 eorida
日本語若い wakai
Portuguêsjovem
Deutschjung
Русскиймоложа́вый moložávyj

adj belonging in the early part of life

한국어이르다 ireuda
Portuguêsde juventude
Deutschjung

adj in the early part of life or growth

Españoljoven, chibolo
한국어어리다 eorida, 젊다 jeomda
日本語若い wakai
中文年輕 /年轻 niánqīng
हिन्दीयुवा yuvā, तरुण taruṇ
Kiswahili-changa, -dogo
Portuguêsjovem
Françaisjeune
Deutschjung, jugendlich
Italianogiovane
Ελληνικάνεαρός nearós, άπλερος ápleros
Românătânăr, june
Русскиймолодо́й molodój, ю́ный júnyj, младо́й mladój
Tiếng Việttrẻ, non
العربيةصَغِير ṣaḡīr, حَدَث ḥadaṯ, شَابّ šābb, صَغِير اَلسِّنّ ṣaḡīr as-sinn
עבריתצָעִיר tsa'ir

adj having little experience

한국어어리다 eorida, 어리석다 eoriseokda
Deutschjung, unerfahren

noun offspring

Españolcría
한국어새끼 saekki
日本語子供 kodomo
Kiswahilidogo
Portuguêsfilhote
Françaispetit
DeutschNachkomme, Nachwuchs, Brut, Abkömmling, Junge
Italianopiccoli, prole
Românăpui
Русскиймолодня́к molodnják, молодь molodʹ, детёныш detjónyš

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{young_2026,
  title = {young},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/young},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}