Meanings
teenage1
alternative teen-age · alternative teen age · alternative teenaged
- not comparableOf or relating to an age between thirteen and nineteen years old.
Fred's teenage years were the most difficult of times.
2 more examples
It was a teenage girl with Cleopatraesque black hair; tight jeans and a tie dyed T-shirt cut off to show her stud-pierced navel.
2014, John Shirley, Her HungerCoristine is one of a team of teenage and twentysomething software engineers, apparently conscripted by Musk in his largely unchecked war against bureaucracy.
2025 February 7, Josie Ensor, “Meet Elon Musk’s ‘baby-faced assassins’ leading Doge takeover”, in The Times
teenage2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounBrushwood for fences and hedges.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivebeing of the age 13 through 19
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
teenage · adjective
- Proto-Indo-European*déḱm̥
- Proto-Germanic*tehun
- Proto-West Germanic*tehun
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂ey-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂óyu
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂oywom
- Proto-Italic*aiwom
- Proto-Italic*aiwotāts
- Latinaetātem
- Vulgar Latin*aetāticum
- Old Frencheage
- Middle Englishage
- Englishage
- Englishteenage
From -teen + age. First attested in 1921.
Full word history & related roots →teenage · noun
From teen (Kentish variant of tine (“enclose within a wattle fence”)) + -age (suffix forming abstract nouns). First attested circa 1700.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian юношески
- юношески (junošeski)of an age between 13 and 19
Catalan adolescent
- adolescentof an age between 13 and 19
Danish teenage
- teenageof an age between 13 and 19
Esperanto adoleska
- adoleskaof an age between 13 and 19
Finnish teini-ikäinen
- teini-ikäinenof an age between 13 and 19
French adolescent
- adolescentof an age between 13 and 19
Greek εφηβικός
- εφηβικός (efivikós)of an age between 13 and 19
Norwegian Bokmål tenårig, tenårings-
- tenårigof an age between 13 and 19
- tenårings-of an age between 13 and 19
Polish nastoletni
- nastoletniof an age between 13 and 19
Russian подростко́вый
- подростко́вый (podrostkóvyj)of an age between 13 and 19
Spanish adolescente
- adolescenteof an age between 13 and 19
Swedish tonårig
- tonårigof an age between 13 and 19
Welsh yn ei arddegau
- yn ei arddegauof an age between 13 and 19
Cite this entry
teenage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/teenage
“teenage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/teenage. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “teenage,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/teenage.
Source: teenage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.