Nearlings

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Living things or entities that exist in close proximity or nearby locations
2. Beings or organisms positioned at hand or in the immediate vicinity
3. Creatures situated at or in the neighborhood of a particular place or person

Etymology: "Nearlings" is the plural of "nearling," so it is an inflected form, and the story is essentially that of its base word. A nearling is a small or stunted animal, or sometimes a young one, and the term belongs to the same family as "near" in its old sense of being close or narrow. The plural simply adds the ordinary English "-s" to the noun, so there is no separate history to trace beyond the base word itself.