adolescent

English

Etymology

First attested 1482, from French adolescent, 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/

Adjective

adolescent (comparative more adolescent, superlative most adolescent)

1. characteristic of, or relating to, or undergoing adolescence; immature
   • (Can we date this quote by Cowper and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Schools, unless discipline were doubly strong, / Detain their adolescent charge too long.

Related terms

• adolescence
• adult

 

Translations

characteristic of adolescence

• Asturian: adolescente
• Bulgarian: юношески (bg) (junošeski)
• Catalan: adolescent (ca)
• Esperanto: adoleska
• Finnish: nuori (fi)
• French: adolescent (fr)
• Galician: adolescente (gl)
• Greek: έφηβος (el) m (éfivos)
• Hungarian: kamasz (hu), kamaszkori
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: adolecanta (io)
• Interlingue:
• Polish: nastoletni (pl) m, dojrzewający m
• Portuguese: adolescente (pt)
• Romanian: adolescent (ro) m
• Russian: подростко́вый (ru) (podrostkóvyj), ю́ношеский (ru) (júnošeskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: ògail
• Slovene: mladoleten
• Spanish: adolescente (es)
• Telugu: కౌమార (kaumāra)

Noun

adolescent (plural adolescents)

1. A person who is in adolescence; someone who has reached puberty but is not yet an adult.

Translations

a teenager

• Arabic: فَتًى m (fatan)
• Armenian: պատանի (hy) (patani)
• Bashkir: үҫмер (üśmer)
• Belarusian: падле́так m (padljétak)
• Bulgarian: юноша (bg) (junoša), девойка (bg) (devojka)
• Catalan: adolescent (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 青少年 (zh) (qīngshàonián), (boy) 少年 (zh) (shàonián), (girl) 姑娘 (zh) (gūniang)

• Czech: dospívající m, puberťák m
• Esperanto: adoleskulo, adoleskanto
• Finnish: nuori (fi)
• German: Jugendliche (de) m
• Hebrew: נַעַר (he) m (ná'ar)
• Hungarian: kamasz (hu)
• Ido: adolecanto (io)
• Interlingue:
• Japanese: 青春 (ja) (せいしゅん, seishun), (boy) 少年 (ja) (しょうねん, shōnen), (girl) 少女 (ja) (しょうじょ, shōjo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 10대 (10dae), 청소년 (ko) (cheongsonyeon)
• Latin: adulēscēns (la) c
• Macedonian: малоле́тник m (malolétnik), малолетничка f (maloletnička)
• Malay: remaja
• Persian: برنا (fa) (bornâ)
• Polish: nastolatek (pl) m, nastolatka (pl)
• Portuguese: adolescente (pt) m or f, rapaz (pt) m, rapariga (pt) f, moço (pt) m, moça (pt) f
• Romanian: adolescent (ro) m, adolescentă (ro) f
• Russian: подро́сток (ru) m (podróstok), (boy) ю́ноша (ru) m (júnoša), (girl) де́вушка (ru) f (dévuška)
• Scottish Gaelic: òigear m, (male) òganach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: adolèscent (sh) m

• Slovene: mladoletnik m, mladoletnica f
• Spanish: adolescente (es) m or f, muchacho (es) m, muchacha (es) f, chico (es) m, chica (es) f
• Swedish: tonåring (sv) c
• Ukrainian: підлі́ток m (pidlítok)

Further reading

• “adolescent”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “adolescent”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “adolescent”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• WHO Guidelines on the Pharmacological Treatment of Persisting Pain in Children with Medical Illnesses, (2012) , World Health Organization

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin adulēscēns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ə.ðu.ləˈsen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ə.ðo.ləˈsent]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [a.ðo.leˈsent]

Adjective

adolescent m or f (masculine and feminine plural adolescents)

1. adolescent

Noun

adolescent m or f (plural adolescents)

1. teenager

Related terms

• adolescència

Further reading

• “adolescent” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈadolɛst͡sɛnt]

Noun

1. adolescent

   Synonyms: dospívající, puberťák

Related terms

• adolescence
• adolescentní

 

Further reading

• Template:R:KNLA

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French adolescent, from Latin adolēscēns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌaː.doː.ləˈsɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ado‧les‧cent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

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

1. adolescent

Synonyms

• jongere

Derived terms

• adolescentie

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French

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin adolesco

Pronunciation

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

• audio:

  (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.

Further reading

• “adolescent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) adolēscent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of adolēscō