fingerling

noun

Etymology: From Middle English fyngyrlynge, equivalent to finger + -ling, from having the size of a human finger.

1. A juvenile fish that has developed scales and working fins.
2. A type of small potato grown primarily in North America.
3. An infant weasel, stoat, ferret; esp. weasels.
4. Any finger-sized version of something typically larger.

   “Oh, but those little crab-lingered fingerlings really wanted to get in! Now some were trying to claw up through an old knothole whose bole had aged and didn’t sit true in the plank. […] But here came the dwarf opening her door, and the spiderlets melted away.”