Yearling

//ˈjɜː.lɪŋ// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 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"

  2. 2
    an animal in its second year wordnet
  3. 3
    A racehorse that is considered to be one year old until a subsequent January 1st.
  4. 4
    a racehorse considered one year old until the second Jan. 1 following its birth wordnet
  5. 5
    A sophomore at West Point military academy. US

    ""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.""

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  1. 6
    a young child who is just beginning to walk wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
toddleraurochsbabebabybaby buntingbambino

Example

More examples

"My horse died when she was still a yearling."

Etymology

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

Related phrases

heifer yearling

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.