clerkling

English

Etymology

From clerk +‎ -ling.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklɑɹk.lɪŋ/

Noun

clerkling (plural clerklings)

1. A young or insignificant clerk.
   • 1912, Jose Rizal, The Reign of Greed‎^[1]:

     Every Spaniard that spoke to him, whether clerkling or underling, was presented as a leading merchant, a marquis, or a count, while on the other hand any one who passed him by was a greenhorn, a petty official, a nobody!

   • 1886, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), translated by John Payne (1842-1916), The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio‎^[2]:

     A little after, he sent a lad, as he were the priest's clerkling that had confessed her, to the lady to ask if she wot of were come thither again.

   • 1917, Sinclair Lewis, The Job‎^[3]:

     Una stood with a hulking man pressing as close to her side as he dared, and a dapper clerkling squeezed against her breast.