adolescent

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English

Etymology

First attested ?1440, from Middle English adolescent, from Middle French adolescent or directly from Latin adolescentem, accusative form of adolescens, present participle of adolēscere (to become adult, grow up), from ad- (to) + alēscere (to grow or become nourished). The adjective first appeared in 1785.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: ăd'əlĕsʹənt, IPA(key): /ˌædəˈlɛsənt/
    • (file)

Adjective

adolescent (comparative more adolescent, superlative most adolescent)

  1. Of, relating to, or at the age of adolescence; at the stage between being a child and an adult.
    • 1785, William Cowper, Tirocinium:
      Schools, unless discipline were doubly strong, / Detain their adolescent charge too long.
    • 2019, Bridget Sweet, Thinking Outside the Voice Box, page 71:
      Again, voice change is not easy and vulnerability plays a big part, but if choral teachers and adolescent singers approach it with the right mindframe, the experience can be empowering, enlightening, and restorative for all involved.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

adolescent (plural adolescents)

  1. A person who is in adolescence; someone who has reached puberty but is not yet an adult.
    • 2014, Ian McEwan, The Children Act, Penguin Random House (2018), page 66:
      ‘A healthy adolescent might be expected to produce five hundred billion blood cells a day.’

Translations

Further reading

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin adulēscentem.

Pronunciation

Adjective

adolescent m or f (masculine and feminine plural adolescents)

  1. adolescent

Noun

adolescent m or f by sense (plural adolescents)

  1. teenager

Related terms

Further reading

Czech

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key):
  • Hyphenation: ado‧les‧cent

Noun

adolescent m anim (feminine adolescentka)

  1. adolescent
    Synonyms: dospívající, puberťák

Declension

Related terms

Further reading

  • adolescent in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French adolescent, from Latin adolēscēns.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌaː.doː.ləˈsɛnt/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: ado‧les‧cent
  • Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

adolescent m or f (plural adolescenten, diminutive adolescentje n)

  1. adolescent
    Synonym: jongere

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Indonesian: adolesen

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin adolēscentem, present participle of adolēscō.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /a.dɔ.lɛ.sɑ̃/, /a.dɔ.le.sɑ̃/
  • (file)

Adjective

adolescent (feminine adolescente, masculine plural adolescents, feminine plural adolescentes)

  1. adolescent
    • 1866, Eugène Sue, L'alouette du casque:
      Au retour de Victoria, si belle de sa beauté de quinze ans, j’avais son âge ; je devins, quoique à peine adolescent, follement épris d’elle ; je cachai soigneusement cet amour, autant par timidité que par suite du respect que m’inspirait, malgré le fraternel attachement dont elle me donnait chaque jour des preuves, cette sérieuse jeune fille, qui rapportait du collège des druidesses je ne sais quoi d’imposant, de pensif et de mystérieux.
      When Victoria returned in her dazzling beauty of fifteen years I was of the same age and although hardly of the age of puberty myself, I fell distractedly in love with her. I carefully concealed my feelings, out of friendship as well as by reason of the respect that, despite the fraternal attachment of which she every day gave me fresh proof, that serious young maid, who brought with her from the college of the female druids an indescribably imposing, pensive and mysterious appearance, inspired in me.

Noun

adolescent m (plural adolescents, feminine adolescente)

  1. adolescent
    • 1841, François-René de Chateaubriand, Mémoires d'outre-tombe:
      Je me mis à tirer l’horoscope de l’adolescente vendangeuse : vieillira-t-elle au pressoir, mère de famille obscure et heureuse ? Sera-t-elle emmenée les camps par un caporal ? Deviendra-t-elle la proie de quelque Don Juan ? La villageoise enlevée aime son ravisseur autant d’étonnement que d’amour ; il la transporte dans un palais de marbre sur le détroit de Messine, sous un palmier au bord d’une source, en face de la mer qui déploie ses flots d’azur, et de l’Etna qui jette des flammes.
      I set to drawing up the horoscope of the adolescent fruit-picker: will she grow old at the cider-press, the mother of an obscure but happy family? Will she be led off to the camps by some corporal? Will she fall prey to some Don Juan? The seduced village girl loves her ravisher as well as the astonishment of love; he transports her to a palace of marble on the Straits of Messina, beneath a palm-tree beside a fountain, facing the sea with azure wave, and Etna spouting flame.

Related terms

Further reading

Latin

Verb

adolēscent

  1. third-person plural future active indicative of adolēscō

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin adolēscēns. First attested in the 19th century.

Pronunciation

Noun

adolescent m pers

  1. adolescent (a person who is in adolescence; someone who has reached puberty but is not yet an adult)
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dziecko

Declension

Related terms

adjective
noun

References

  1. ^ Mirosław Bańko, Lidia Wiśniakowska (2021) “adolescent”, in Wielki słownik wyrazów obcych, →ISBN
  2. ^ J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1900–1927), “adolescent”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), Warsaw

Further reading

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French adolescent.

Noun

adolescent m (plural adolescenți)

  1. teenager

Declension