Other forms: adolescents
An adolescent is a young person between childhood and adulthood. A moody adolescent, adolescent behaviour, adolescents and adults.
The brain's decision-making regions keep developing into the middle twenties, well after the body finishes, and that gap explains a good deal about risk-taking. Used as an adjective of an adult, adolescent is an insult. The Latin means growing up.
1nounadolescentA young person between childhood and adulthood.
“The clinic offers advice to adolescents who are struggling at school.”
adolescent is a young person.
Also accepted in games: teenager, teen
Latin adolescens is the present participle of adolescere, to grow up. Adult is the past participle of the same verb.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂el- (grow)
Latin
adolescentem
Middle French
adolescent
Middle English
adolescent
English, today
adolescent
Built from
First attested ?1440, from Middle English adolescent, from Middle French adolescent or directly from Latin adolescentem, accusative form of adolescens, present participle of adolesco (“to become adult, grow up”), from ad- (“to”) + alesco (“to grow or become nourished”). The adjective first appeared in 1785.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA