Meanings
plural hatchlings
- A newly hatched bird, reptile or other animal that has emerged from an egg.
The hatchling alligator had just broken out of its shell but was already trying to follow its mother, who hunted hatchling birds.
1 more example
Hatchling nautiluses emerge, after nearly a year's gestation, as miniature adults and then immediately start swimming around, searching for food in the depths.
2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Picador, →ISBN, page 90 - transgender slangA person who has (especially recently) realized that they are transgender.
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
From hatch + -ling. Sense 2 in reference to the term crack one's egg (“realize one is transgender”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek νεοσσός
- νεοσσός (neossós)a newly hatched animal
Dutch kuiken, jong
- kuikena newly hatched animal
- jonga newly hatched animal
Finnish vastakuoriutunut
- vastakuoriutunuta newly hatched animal
German Schlüpfling
- Schlüpflinga newly hatched animal
Hungarian fióka
- fiókaa newly hatched animal
Italian pulcino, pullo
- pulcinoa newly hatched animal
- pulloa newly hatched animal
- neosgusciatoa newly hatched animal
Māori pūhouhou
- pūhouhoua newly hatched animal
Polish nowo wyklute pisklę
- nowo wyklute pisklęa newly hatched animal
Swedish unge
- ungea newly hatched animal
Cite this entry
hatchling. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hatchling
“hatchling.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hatchling. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hatchling,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hatchling.
Source: hatchling on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.