English Explanatory Dictionary

youth

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The quality or state of being young.
  2. The part of life following childhood; the period of existence preceding maturity or age; the whole early part of life, from childhood, or, sometimes, from infancy, to adulthood.
  3. A young person.
  4. A young man; a male adolescent or young adult.
  5. Young persons, collectively.

Pronunciation

jo͞oth /juːθ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-youth.wav /juθ/ En-us-youth.ogg /jʉwθ/ /jʉːθ/ /jʉθ/ /jut̪ʰ/ /jʊt̪ʰ/ jŭth /jɐt̪ʰ/

Word forms

youth youths yought youthe

Etymology

From Middle English youthe, youghte, ȝouþe, from Old English ġeoguþ (“the state of being young; youth”), from Proto-West Germanic *juwunþa, from Proto-Germanic *jugunþō, *jugunþiz (“youth”), corresponding to young + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Juugd, West Frisian jeugd, Dutch jeugd, German Low German Jöögd, German Jugend.

Synonyms

juvenility youngness youngth youthfulness adolescent child kid lad teen teenager youngster boy young man adolescents kids teenagers teens young people youngsters

Antonyms

age dotage old age senility adult grown-up

Related words

young

Derived words

fountain of youth hilltop youth in the flower of one's youth middle youth mid youth yoof youth academy youth bulge youth center youth centre youth-centric youth club youth court youth crew youth crime youth culture youth custody centre youth detention center youth detention centre youthful youth group youth hostel youth is wasted on the young youthly youth movement youth-on-age youth organization youthwards youth work youth worker youthy
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on Y Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary