youngster
n.a young person, like a child or a teenager. Older people often use this word to talk about someone much younger than themselves.
n.a young person, typically a child or adolescent. Often carries a slightly patronizing or nostalgic tone when used by older speakers.
“The local park is always full of youngsters on the weekend.”
“The coach spent his Saturday mornings teaching local youngsters the basic rules of football.”
“While the technology was designed for professionals, it was the tech-savvy youngsters who truly pushed the software to its creative limits through constant experimentation.”
Often used as a collective plural to refer to a group of children or teenagers.
“A deal would take City's spending this summer past £250m following the recruitment of youngsters Pierce Charles, Jeremy Monga and Mathys Detourbet and back-up keeper Geronimo Rulli.”
“Player to avoid: Georginio Rutter (£5.5m, forward) Pras: The Frenchman has been reclassified as a forward and is facing competition for minutes alongside Greek youngster Charalampos Kostoulas.”
Common in sport and culture writing
From young + -ster. Attested from the early 17th century.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.