fledgling

Alternative forms

• fledgeling

Etymology

From fledge (“prepare for flying”) +‎ -ling.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈflɛdʒlɪŋ/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

fledgling (not comparable)

1. Untried or inexperienced.
   • 2011, Jay A. Gertzman, Bookleggers and Smuthounds: The Trade in Erotica, 1920-1940

     His trenchant criticisms of the Church's repression […] include a discussion of the considerable 1938 success of the fledgling NODL in getting magazines removed from various points of sale.

2. Emergent or rising.

Noun

fledgling (plural fledglings)

1. A young bird which has just developed its flight feathers (notably wings).
2. An insect that has just fledged, i.e. undergone its final moult to become an adult or imago.
3. (figuratively) An immature, naïve or inexperienced person.

References

• fledgeling in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913