sapling C2+ Topic:Plants & Agriculture US /ˈsæplɪŋ/ UK /ˈsæplɪŋ/ See IPA manual Meanings 1 noun a young, slender tree They planted a row of oak saplings along the driveway. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a young, slender tree seedlingshootyoungsterstriplingsprout Word family Related forms sapsappysapful Appears in Tongue twisters (1) See all Six Slick Saplings Six slick slim slippery slimy sleek slender sickly saplings. Keep /sl/ together through slick, slim, slippery, slimy, sleek and slender. The start changes to /s/ without /l/ in sickly and saplings. Etymology AI details From Middle English, formed from sap + the diminutive suffix -ling, the young tree being conceived as full of sap; sap is from Old English sæp. sæp Old English *sapą Proto-Germanic View etymology graph -> Topics Plants & Agriculture Word Formation & Derivatives External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # sapling **Type:** Word **Level:** C2+ **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈsæplɪŋ/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈsæplɪŋ/ ## Meanings 1. a young, slender tree ## Examples - They planted a row of oak saplings along the driveway. ## Synonyms - seedling - shoot - youngster - stripling - sprout ## Related Forms - sap - sappy - sapful ## Roots and Affixes - Root: sæp - Root: *sapą - Affix: -ling - small ## Etymology From Middle English, formed from sap + the diminutive suffix -ling, the young tree being conceived as full of sap; sap is from Old English sæp. ## AI Etymology Sapling comes from Middle English, formed from sap + the diminutive suffix -ling, the young tree being conceived as full of sap; sap is from Old English sæp. The historical chain includes Old English sæp and Proto-Germanic *sapą. The formation is best read as suffixal, compound, and borrowed: the word sapling carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a young, slender tree". Related English forms include sap, sappy, and sapful. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization. ## Topics - Plants & Agriculture - Word Formation & Derivatives markdown