stripling

/ˈstrɪplɪŋ/

Other forms: striplings

You can use the old-fashioned noun stripling to talk about a teenager, though few people these days will know what you're talking about.

Like many old words in English, the -ling in this one clues you up that it's a smaller version of the real thing. Exactly how the strip part applies is lost in the mists of time, but it may have to do with being thin as a strip from lacking the muscular development of full manhood: the word stripling is a somewhat poetic epithet for a youth.

Definitions of stripling

1. noun

   a juvenile between the onset of puberty and maturity
   synonyms: adolescent, teen, teenager

   types:

   mod

   a British teenager or young adult in the 1960s; noted for their clothes consciousness and opposition to the rockers

   pachuco

   a Mexican-American teenager who belongs to a neighborhood gang and who dresses in showy clothes

   punk, punk rocker

   a teenager or young adult who is a performer (or enthusiast) of punk rock and a member of the punk youth subculture

   rocker

   a teenager or young adult in the 1960s who wore leather jackets and rode motorcycles

   young buck, young man

   a teenager or a young adult male

   type of:

   juvenile, juvenile person

   a young person, not fully developed