sapling

noun

1. a young tree.
2. a young person.

noun

1. a young tree
2. literary a youth

n.early 14c., from sap (n.1) + diminutive suffix -ling. This probably is the source of American English slang sap (n.3) “club, short staff” (1899) and the verb sap (v.2) “to hit (someone) with a sap” (1926).