Word.ws English Dictionary

clerkling

/ˈklɑɹk.lɪŋ/

clerkling noun: a young or insignificant clerk.

Noun

clerkling (plural clerklings)

  1. A young or insignificant clerk.
    • 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!1912, Jose Rizal, The Reign of Greed
    • 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.1886, Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), translated by John Payne (1842-1916), The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio

Forms of clerkling

pluralclerklings

Origin of clerkling

From clerk + -ling.

Questions about clerkling

What does clerkling mean?
Clerkling means a young or insignificant clerk.
What part of speech is clerkling?
Clerkling is a noun.
How do you pronounce clerkling?
Clerkling is pronounced /ˈklɑɹk.lɪŋ/.
What is the plural of clerkling?
The plural of clerkling is clerklings.

Words near clerkling in the dictionary

  1. clerkless
  2. clerklier
  3. clerkliest
  4. clerklike
  5. clerkliness
  6. clerkling
  7. clerklings
  8. clerkly
  9. clerkly script
  10. clerks
  11. clerks of courses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clerkling (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “clerkling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clerkling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.