Coltish means awkward and frisky like a young horse. Coltish limbs, a coltish grin, coltish energy.
It describes the particular clumsiness of somebody who has grown fast and not learned the new size yet, which is why it attaches to teenagers. It is affectionate rather than critical, and it carries high spirits as well as awkwardness.
1adjectivecoltishAwkward and frisky like a young horse.
“The coltish teenager kept tripping over his own long legs on the stairs.”
coltish is a quality of movement.
Colt plus -ish. Colt is Old English and means a young male horse.
Middle English
coltyssh
English, today
coltish
From Middle English coltyssh. by surface analysis, en + colt + -ish.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA