candy striper

noun

, Informal.

1. a person, often a teenager, who works as a volunteer in a hospital.

Word History and Origins

Origin of candy striper¹

First recorded in 1960–65; so called from the red and white striped uniform often worn

Example Sentences

He piloted the Samaritans’ battered SUV while Kocourek, who was a hospital candy striper when she was a girl, pointed out rock formations and changes to the landscape.

From Los Angeles Times

The scene between Trevor and a candy striper, apparently gay himself but old enough to have passed through the tunnel of adolescence, is as frankly and thoughtfully written as you wish everything else were.

From New York Times

“I inherited a paper route, I sold magazines, had lemonade stands, I was a candy striper and into fund-raising,” she told The New York Times in 2011.

From New York Times

The turkey’s “small, raw-looking head” reminds her of a wounded war veteran, the “first fully naked man / I ever saw, when I was a candy striper … I didn’t want to see, / and yet I saw.”

From New York Times

“I used to be a candy striper in a pulmonary ward. That cough does not sound good.”

From Literature