adolescent
adjective
[ adəˈlɛs(ə)nt ]
• (of a young person) in the process of developing from a child into an adult.
• "many parents find it hard to understand their adolescent children"
adolescent
noun
• an adolescent boy or girl.
• "the books are aimed at children and adolescents"
Similar:
teenager,
youngster,
young person,
young adult,
young man,
young woman,
young lady,
young one,
youth,
juvenile,
minor,
schoolboy,
schoolgirl,
boy,
girl,
lad,
lass,
stripling,
fledgling,
whippersnapper,
bairn,
teen,
teenybopper,
kid,
young 'un,
shaver,
hobbledehoy,
Origin:
late Middle English (as a noun): via French from Latin adolescent- ‘coming to maturity’, from adolescere, from ad- ‘to’ + alescere ‘grow, grow up’, from alere ‘nourish’. The adjective dates from the late 18th century.
