Goslyng

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A young goose, especially one still covered in downy feathers and not yet fully grown
2. The offspring of a goose in its first months, when it is fluffy and still dependent on its parents
3. A baby goose that has recently hatched and is still covered in soft, downy plumage

Etymology: Goslyng is a spelling of gosling, the young of a goose, used in Middle English before the modern spelling settled. The base is "goose," from Old English "gōs," and the ending is the diminutive suffix "-ling," which made a noun mean "little" or "young" of something. The same ending appears in "duckling" and "yearling," and in "darling," which began as "dear" plus "-ling." So a gosling is, in the strictest sense, a little goose, built from the same tool that made a dear one into a darling. The "-y-" in the spelling reflects Middle English vowel spelling rather than a different sound or a separate word.