yearling

From Middle English yerling, yerlyng, equivalent to year +‎ -ling. Cognate with Dutch jaarling (“yearling”), German Jährling (“yearling”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈjɜː.lɪŋ/, /ˈjɪə.lɪŋ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈjɪɚ.lɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)lɪŋ

yearling (plural yearlings)

1. An animal that is between one and two years old; one that is in its second year (but not yet two full years old).

   a yearling lamb

   • 2021 August 25, Henry Fountain, Benjamin Rasmussen, “‘The Worst Thing I Can Ever Remember’: How Drought Is Crushing Ranchers”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Tom Fettig and his wife, Kim, were there with 60 yearlings, about half of a herd they were helping their son raise on the outskirts of Bismarck.

2. A racehorse that is considered to be one year old until a subsequent January 1st.
3. (US) A sophomore at West Point military academy.

   Synonym: (slang) yuck

   • 1910, H. Irving Hancock, Dick Prescott's Second Year at West Point, page 84:

     "But is a plebe forbidden to stroll here?"
     "If a plebe did have the brass to try it," replied Anstey slowly, "I reckon he would have to fight the whole yearling class in turn."

   • 2014, Michael E. Haskew, West Point 1915 (page 57)

     As a yearling, he admitted to doing his part in ensuring that plebes knew their place at the Academy, […]

• grayline, layering, re-laying, relaying

• IPA^(key): /jœʁ.liŋ/, /jiʁ.liŋ/

yearling m (plural yearlings)

1. yearling

• “yearling”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.