youngster

[Eng. young; -ster.] A young person; a lad. "The first example of youngster which Richardson gives us is from the Spectator [No. 324]. If it exists at all in our earlier literature, it will hardly be otherwise than as the female correlative of the male younker or 'yonker,' a word of constant recurrence." -Trench: English Past and Present, p. 113. (Note.) *youngth, s . [Eng. young ; -th.] Youth. "The mournful muse in mirth now list ne mask, As she was wont in youngth and summer days." Spenser: Shepherd's Calendar; November . *younk-er, *yonk-er, *yoonk-er, s . [Borrowed from Dutch jonker , jonkheer , from jong - young, and heera lord, sir, gentleman; Old Dutch jonck - heer , joncker.] A young person; a lad; a youngster: hence, an inexperienced or raw person or youth. 4573