Fledgling

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Fledgling

Postby Dr. Goodword » Wed Jan 02, 2019 8:50 pm

• fledgling •

Pronunciation: flej-ling • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A young bird that has just developed feathers that allow it to fly. 2. A person or organization that is new at something, inexperienced or underdeveloped.

Notes: This noun has an unusual suffix usually reserved for small or young things: duckling, gosling, foundling. Fledgling fits right into this category. It is a noun derived from the verb fledge "to grow adult feathers". It comes with an adjective that makes me and my spellchecker uncomfortable: fledgeless "unfledged". We prefer unfledged.

In Play: The original sense of today's word may be used in sentences like this: "Adult birds sometimes have trouble getting fledglings to leave the nest and go out on their own." The metaphorical sense may be used in sentences like this: "Barnaby Bailey's fledgling firm that manufactures helicopter ejection seats has little chance of survival."

Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Old English flycge "able to fly, fledged" from PIE pleu-/plou- "to flow", extended by a suffx -k, pleuk- "to fly, having feathers fit to fly". In some languages the original stem was converted to a sense of flying or flowing in air. In fact, both English fly and flow come from the same PIE root with and without the suffix -k. The Old English word for "fly", fleogan, and Modern German fliegen "to fly" reflect the presence of the original -k suffix. This root developed into pluvia "rain" in Latin. The adjective for this word, pluvialis, was borrowed by English as pluvial. (Our fine-feathered friend, Rob Towart, is owed our undying gratitude for suggesting yet another soaring Good Word.)
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Slava
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Re: Fledgling

Postby Slava » Sun Feb 25, 2024 8:51 pm

How not to use this word, in my not so humble opinion:

"An already fledgling winter is on borrowed time..." "Courtesy" of CNN. I'm thinking the writer wanted to say 'flailing' or 'failing'. The second meaning does have the sense of underdeveloped, but that applies to something new, not something that should be in full swing. And, to be really picky, since when did Winter fledge?
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