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darling

dar·ling

UK/ˈdɑːlɪŋ/ US/ˈdɑɹlɪŋ/ very common informal
noun (2) adjective (1)

noun

1.
2.

an Australian river; tributary of the Murray River

Synonyms

adjective

1.

dearly loved

Synonyms
Similar

Origin

The noun is derived from Middle English dereling, derelyng (“beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian”), from Old English dīerling, dēorling (“favourite, darling; minion”), from Proto-West Germanic *diuriling, from Proto-Germanic *diurijalingaz, from *diurijaz (“beloved, dear; expensive”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“hot, warm; to burn”), or *dweh₂- (“distant, long; to remove, separate”)) + *-ilingaz (suffix forming (diminutive) nouns with the sense of ‘belonging to; coming from’). By surface analysis, dear + -ling (suffix meaning ‘immature; small’). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. The verb is also derived from the noun.

Phrases

  • Anderson-Darling test
  • Darling language
  • Darling lily
  • Darling pea
  • Darling plum
  • Darling Range
  • Darling River
  • Darling Scarp
  • kill one's darlings
  • media darling
  • murder one's darlings
  • silver darling

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.