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-.

• (RP, America) enPR: yŭng, IPA: /jʌŋ/
• (Northern England) IPA: /jʊŋɡ/

young (comparative younger, superlative youngest)

1. In the early part of growth or life; born not long ago.
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC ↗:

     I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

   a lamb is a young sheep;  these picture books are for young readers

2. At an early stage of existence or development; having recently come into existence.

   the age of space travel is still young;   a young business

3. (Not) advanced in age; (far towards or) at a specified stage of existence or age.
   • 1906, Robertson Nicoll, Tis Forty Years Since, quoted in T. P.'s Weekly, volume 8, page 462:

     And thou, our Mother, twice two centuries young,

     Bend with bright shafts of truth thy bow fresh-strung.

   How young is your dog?   Her grandmother turned 70 years young last month.
4. Junior (of two related people with the same name).
   • 1841, The Museum of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art:

     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, Elizabeth Louisa Moresby, “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.

   • 1965, Muriel Spark, The Mandelbaum Gate, London: Macmillan, Part One, Chapter 1:

     Ephraim would be in his young thirties.

6. Youthful; having the look or qualities of a young person.

   My grandmother is a very active woman and is quite young for her age.

7. Of or belonging to the early part of life.

   The cynical world soon shattered my young dreams.

8. (obsolete) Having little experience; inexperienced; unpracticed; ignorant; weak.
   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act I, scene i]:

     Come, come, elder brother, you are too young in this.

• (born not long ago) youthful, junior; see also Thesaurus:young
• (having qualities of a young person) youthful, juvenile
• (of or belonging to the early part of life) juvenile
• (inexperienced) underdeveloped, undeveloped, immature

• (antonym(s) of “born not long ago”): old, aged, grown up, senior, youthless, elderly
• (antonym(s) of “having qualities of a young person”): aged, old, youthless, mature, elderly
• (antonym(s) of “of or belonging to the early part of life”): senior, mature, elderly
• (antonym(s) of “inexperienced”): mature, experienced, veteran

• youth

see young/translations

young (plural young)

1. (often as if a plural noun) Offspring, especially the immature offspring of animals.

   The lion caught a gnu to feed its young.

   The lion's young are curious about the world around them.

• French: petit
• German: Nachkomme, Nachwuchs, Brut, Abkömmling, Junge
• Italian: piccoli, prole
• Portuguese: filhote
• Russian: молодня́к

young (youngs, present participle younging; simple past and past participle younged)

1. (informal or demography) To become or seem to become younger.
2. (informal or demography) To cause to appear younger.
3. (geology) To exhibit younging.

• As an English, Scottish, and northern Irish surname, from the adjective young, used to distinguish a younger brother or son.
• As a Chinese - surname, spelling variant of Yang.

• IPA: /jʌŋ/

1. Surname.
   1. Surname for the younger of two people having the same given name.
   2. Surname.
2. A placename:
   1. A village in Saskatchewan, Canada.
   2. An unincorporated community/and/census-designated place in Gila County, Arizona.
   3. An unincorporated community in Brown, Morgan County.
   4. An unincorporated community in Jackson County, West Virginia.
   5. A city in Río Negro.
   6. A town in Hilltops, South West Slopes.
   7. Ellipsis of Young County
   8. Ellipsis of Young Parish
   9. Ellipsis of Young Township
   10. Ellipsis of Young River
   11. Ellipsis of Young Lake
   12. Ellipsis of Mount Young