young Turk
- noun
- /jʌŋ tɜrk/
- Literature
:
joven rebelde
- He is known as the young Turk of the team, always bringing bold ideas to the table.
Examples
-
The other half was either old geezers suffering heart attacks or a couple of young Turks who were tanked when they got in their cars.
Fiction book (1990) -
And in this movie, a young Turk, sort of brilliant guy is Matt Damon's character.
-
He's one of the company's young Turks.
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It is conceivable that, due to the much greater importance of education and the penetration of European and American culture through movies, television, and pop music, young Turks and Moroccans from the second generation will assimilate even faster than Italians and Germans a century earlier.
Academic text (2002) -
The young Turks in the organization are pushing for more innovative policies.
-
As a young Turk in the tech industry, she is eager to challenge outdated practices.
Synonyms
A person who takes part in a revolt against authority
Antonyms
How Rebellious
Surface Forms
Morphology
The figurative meaning ‘a young, rebellious person wanting radical change’ comes from the historical/political movement “Young Turks” and is not a straightforward combination of 'young' (a person in an early life stage) + 'Turk' (a person of Turkish origin). This is a culturally specific, idiomatic usage, so a B1 learner who only knows the literal meanings of the constituents would likely interpret it literally and not infer the intended sense.
Etymology
The term young Turk comes from a real group called the Young Turks in the old Ottoman Empire; the words young and Turk pointed to young people who pushed to remove old leaders and make big changes. Because they were known for challenging the system, calling someone a young Turk today means 'a young person in a group who rebels or wants big change'.