Meanings
plural tweenagers · alternative 'tweenager
- A young person who is not yet a teenager (being less than thirteen years old), but starting to act like one: generally ten to twelve years old.
Your eight to twelve year old is in the gray area between early childhood and the teen years. He is a child in the middle—a “tweenager.”
1994, Mary Manz Simon, How to Parent Your “Tweenager”, page 6Synonyms: preteen
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA young person who is not yet a teenager (being less than thirteen years old), but starting to act like one: generally ten to twelve years old.
Origin
Blend of 'tween + teenager. Attested as early as the 1950s, but popularized in the late 20th or early 21st century.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
tweenager. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tweenager
“tweenager.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tweenager. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tweenager,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tweenager.
Source: tweenager on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.