adolescence

English

Etymology

From Middle English adolescence, from Old French adolescence, from Latin adolēscentia, from adolēscēns (“young”); see adolescent.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌædəˈlɛsəns/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

Noun

adolescence (countable and uncountable, plural adolescences)

2. The transitional period of physical and psychological development between childhood and maturity.

   Synonyms: teendom, teenhood, hog age

   During adolescence, the body and mind go through many complex changes, some of which are difficult to deal with.

Usage notes

• While adolescence is mostly interchangeable with teendom and teenhood, as it happens during ages ending in -teen, this correspondence is not absolute, so adolescence can be understood as a broader or narrower term depending on the context.

Derived terms

• middlescence
• postadolescence
• preadolescence

 

Related terms

• adolescent

Translations

period between childhood and maturity

• Armenian: պատանեկություն (hy) (patanekutʻyun)
• Asturian: adolescencia f
• Belarusian: юна́цтва n (junáctva), маладо́сць f (maladóscʹ)
• Bulgarian: юношество (junošestvo)
• Catalan: adolescència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: siàu-liân-kî

  Mandarin: 青少年 (zh) (qīngshàonián)

• Czech: dospívání n
• Danish: opvækst c
• Esperanto: plenkreskiĝeco, adolesko
• Estonian: noorukiiga
• Finnish: murrosikä (fi), nuoruusikä, nuoruus (fi)
• French: adolescence (fr) f
• Galician: adolescencia f
• German: Adoleszenz (de) f, Pubertät (de) f, Flegeljahre (de) pl, Flegelalter n
• Greek: εφηβεία (el) f (efiveía)

  Ancient: ἥβη f (hḗbē), ἐφηβεία f (ephēbeía)

• Hebrew: גיל ההתבגרות (he) (gil ha'hitbagrut)
• Hungarian: kamaszkor (hu)
• Ido: adoleco (io)
• Indonesian: adolesens (id)
• Irish: óige f, ógántacht f
• Italian: adolescenza (it) f
• Japanese: 青年期 (ja) (せいねんき, seinenki)
• Kabuverdianu: mosindadi
• Korean: 청년기 (cheongnyeon'gi), 청춘기 (cheongchun'gi)
• Macedonian: малоле́тство n (malolétstvo)
• Maori: taiohinga, taitamarikitanga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: oppvekst m

  Nynorsk: oppvekst m, oppvokster m

• Polish: wiek dojrzewania m, młodość (pl) f, adolescencja (pl) f
• Portuguese: adolescência (pt) f
• Romanian: adolescență (ro) f
• Russian: ю́ность (ru) f (júnostʹ), мо́лодость (ru) f (mólodostʹ), о́трочество (ru) n (ótročestvo) (literary)
• Scottish Gaelic: òige f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: адолесцѐнција f

  Roman: adolescèncija (sh) f

• Slovak: dospievanie n
• Slovene: mladostništvo n
• Spanish: adolescencia (es) f
• Telugu: కౌమారము (te) (kaumāramu)
• Turkish: ergenlik (tr), ilk gençlik (tr), büluğ (tr)
• Ukrainian: ю́ність (uk) f (júnistʹ), мо́лодість f (mólodistʹ)
• Vietnamese: thanh thiếu niên, tuổi thần tiên, tuổi ô mai, tuổi teen
• Volapük: tidaülatim
• Welsh: llencyndod m, adolesens m

Further reading

• “adolescence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “adolescence”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈadolɛst͡sɛnt͡sɛ]
• Hyphenation: ado‧les‧cen‧ce

Noun

adolescence n

1. adolescence

   Synonym: dospívání

Declension

Declension of adolescence (soft feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	adolescence	adolescence
genitive	adolescence	adolescencí
dative	adolescenci	adolescencím
accusative	adolescenci	adolescence
vocative	adolescence	adolescence
locative	adolescenci	adolescencích
instrumental	adolescencí	adolescencemi

Related terms

• adolescent
• adolescentní

 

Further reading

• “adolescence”, in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu (in Czech)
• “adolescence”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

French

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin adulēscentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.dɔ.lɛ.sɑ̃s/ ~ /a.dɔ.le.sɑ̃s/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

adolescence f (plural adolescences)

1. adolescence, teenage years, teenagehood

Derived terms

• crise d’adolescence
• préadolescence

Related terms

• adolescent

See also

• puberté

Further reading

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

Old French

Etymology

Late 13th century, borrowed from Latin adolescentia.

Noun

adolescence oblique singular, f (oblique plural adolescences, nominative singular adolescence, nominative plural adolescences)

1. adolescence