fledgling

Intermediatezipf 3.10

Pronunciation

/ˈflɛdʒlɪŋ/(FLEJ-ling)

Part of speech

noun / adjectiveneutral

Chinese

(n) 刚学飞的幼鸟 (adj) 初出茅庐的；新兴的

Definition

A young bird that has just grown feathers for flying; figuratively, a new and inexperienced person or thing.

Word family

  • (no common derivatives)

Collocations

  • fledgling company
  • fledgling democracy
  • fledgling career
  • fledgling industry
  • fledgling artist

Examples

  1. 1.The fledgling startup struggled to compete against established tech giants. (new, inexperienced)
  2. 2.The nature documentary captured the moment a fledgling took its first flight from the nest. (young bird)

Synonyms

  • novice/ˈnɒvɪs/— a beginner — for people
  • nascent/ˈnæsənt/— just beginning to develop — more formal
  • budding/ˈbʌdɪŋ/— showing signs of becoming — more positive

Etymology

from "fledge" (to grow feathers) — a bird that has just fledged, ready for its first flight