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puberty

UK/ˈpjuː.bə.ti/US/ˈpju.bɚ.ti/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,669 of 15,258neutraltechnical · an editor’s judgement

Puberty is the years when the body changes into an adult one. Hormones, growth, and a great deal of confusion.

It begins somewhere between eight and fourteen and takes several years, and the age has been falling for a century for reasons that are still argued about. Adolescence is the broader word covering the social and emotional changes alongside the physical ones. The word is clinical rather than embarrassing, which is exactly why it is the right one to use with children.

Edvard Munch · Public domain

Definitions of puberty

  1. 1nounpubertyThe period during which the body matures sexually.B2+

    “She reached puberty earlier than her sister.”

Where it comes from

  1. Latin

    pūbertās — the age of maturity, manhood

  2. Old French

    puberté

  3. Middle English

    puberte

  4. English, today

    puberty

From Middle English puberte, from Old French puberté, from Latin pūbertās (“the age of maturity, manhood”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove, Babies & Growing Up

First appears in chapter 26 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

puberty in the wild

  • Pubarche () refers to the first appearance of pubic hair at puberty.

    Pubarche

  • A study researched whether thelarche pathway, beginning puberty with breast development alone, or the pubarche pathway, beginning puberty with pubic hair development alone, represents the true pubertal development.

    Pubarche

  • Signs of puberty can develop as early as an age of 1 year.

    Familial male-limited precocious puberty

  • Before puberty, the external sex organs, known as primary sexual characteristics, are sex characteristics that distinguish males and females.

    Puberty

  • An instance of a voice crack (when associated with puberty) lasts for only a moment and generally occurs less frequently as the individual grows into maturity.

    Voice change

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.