Etymology

teen

T1E1E1N1

Today it means: Synonym of teenager: a person between 13 and 19 years old (inclusive). Full definition →

Middle English tene ← Old English tēona ← Proto-West Germanic *teun
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teen · noun, adjective1

Clipping of teenager. For more synonyms see at Thesaurus:teenager.

teen · noun2

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*teuną
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*teun
  3. Old English · inherited fromtēona
  4. Middle English · inherited fromtene
  5. English todayteen

From Middle English tene, from Old English tēona, tēone, *tēon, from Proto-West Germanic *teun, from Proto-Germanic *teuną.

teen · verb3

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*tiunijaną
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*tiunijan
  3. Old English · inherited fromtēonian
  4. Middle English · inherited fromtenen
  5. English todayteen

From Middle English tenen, from Old English tēonian, tȳnan (“to vex, annoy, provoke”), from Proto-West Germanic *tiunijan, from Proto-Germanic *tiunijaną.

teen · verb4

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*tūną“fence, enclosure”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · derived from*tūn
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*tūnijan
  4. Old English · inherited fromtȳnan“to fence, inclose, shut, close”
  5. Middle English · inherited fromtenen
  6. English todayteen

From Middle English tenen, tinen, from Old English tȳnan (“to fence, inclose, shut, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *tūnijan, from Proto-West Germanic *tūn, from Proto-Germanic *tūną (“fence, enclosure”). Doublet of tine. Cognate with Dutch tuinen, German zäunen. Related to English town.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Germanic*teuną all →

tinsel

Old Englishtȳnan all →

tine

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.