child; young lad
Formal or literary term for a child or young boy; rarely used in modern everyday speech.
In old Chinese texts, 孺子 refers to a young child.
stripling; greenhorn; inexperienced person
Literary, somewhat derogatory term for a callow youth or inexperienced person; not used in modern conversation.
豎子 is an old word meaning a greenhorn or stripling.
Standard modern word for 'child'; 孺子 is a rare literary equivalent.
Common modern term for an inexperienced youth; 孺子/豎子 carries a similar nuance but is archaic.
Literary kanji form; the character 孺 is not in common use.
Alternate literary kanji form; 豎 is a non-Jōyō character.
Irregular kanji usage; 竪 is not standard for this word.
From Chinese 孺子 (rúzǐ), meaning 'child' or 'youngster'. The Japanese reading じゅし is the on'yomi. The variant 豎子 also derives from Chinese, with 豎 meaning 'young' or 'immature'.