A young goose, usually a gosling or a goose in its first or second year of life.
From Old English and Germanic roots related to 'gos' (goose), with the diminutive suffix '-el' added to indicate a young animal, similar to how 'duckling' refers to a young duck.
English used to have lots of specific words for animals at different ages—'gansel' for young geese, 'cygnet' for young swans—but we've mostly lost these lovely specific terms in modern times.
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