gosling

Two geese with four goslings.

English

Pronunciation

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Etymology

From Late Middle English gosling, goselyng (“gosling”), alteration (due to Middle English goos, gose (“goose”)) of earlier gesling (“gosling”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse gæsling, géslingr (“gosling”), from gás (“goose”) + -lingr (“-ling”), equivalent to goose +‎ -ling. Cognate with Danish gæsling (“gosling”), Swedish gässling (“gosling”). Compare also Low German gossel, gössel (“gosling”), German Gänslein (“gosling”).

Noun

gosling (plural goslings)

1. A young goose.
2. A callow (immature, inexperienced) / foolish, naive, young person.
3. (dated) A catkin on nut trees and pines.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bailey to this entry?)

Synonyms

• gooseling

Related terms

• goose
• duckling
• swanling

Translations

young goose

• Czech: house (cs) n
• Dutch: gansje (nl) n, ganzenjong n
• Esperanto: anserido
• French: oison (fr) m, oiselet (fr) m (literary)
• German: Gänseküken n, Gänslein n, Gänschen n, (North German) Gössel (de) n, junge Gans f
• Irish: góislín m, éan gé m
• Italian: ochetto m, ochetta f, papero (it) m, papera (it) f, (diminutive) paperino m, (diminutive) paperina f
• Korean: 새끼거위 (saekkigeowi)
• Lithuanian: žąsiukas (lt) m

• Polish: gąsię (pl) n, gęsię n
• Portuguese: gansinho m
• Romanian: boboc (ro) m
• Russian: гусёнок (ru) m (gusjónok)
• Slovak: húsa n, húsatko n (diminutive)
• Spanish: ansarino m
• Swedish: gässling (sv) c
• Turkish: (dialectal) badi (tr)
• Volapük: (♂♀) ganül, (♂) higanül, (♀) jiganül
• Yiddish: גענדזל n (gendzl)

callow (immature, inexperienced) / foolish, naive young person

• Dutch: domme gans f
• German: Grünschnabel (de) m

• Italian: (female) ochetta f
• Russian: глупыш (ru) m (glupýš)

Anagrams

• golgins
• oglings