Meanings
plural clerklings
- A young or insignificant clerk.
Una stood with a hulking man pressing as close to her side as he dared, and a dapper clerkling squeezed against her breast.
1917, Sinclair Lewis, The Job2 more examples
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 GreedA 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
Origin
Cite this entry
clerkling. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clerkling
“clerkling.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clerkling. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “clerkling,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/clerkling.
Source: clerkling on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.