adult

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæd.ʌlt/, /əˈdʌlt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin adultus (“grown up, mature, ripe”),^[2][3] perhaps through adulte,^[4][5] the past participle of adolēscere (“to grow up, come to maturity”),^[2][3] from ad- (“to”) and alēscere (“to be nourished, grow”),^[2] an inchoative of alere (“to nourish”),^[2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *al- (“to grow, nourish”).^[2] It is related to adolescent.^[3][5] The noun is from the adjective.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Grown up, mature: 1531,^[3][6] though not common until the mid-17th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a grown-up person, is from 1658 in Barnhart and the OED^[3][6] and 1655 in Merriam-Webster.^[4] Figuratively, of plants or languages, “full-grown” is from 1670.^[6] Adult education is from 1851.^[6] “Mature in attitude or outlook” is from 1929.^[2][6] In the old British film ratings, A meant suitable for adult audiences (1914).^[2] As a euphemism for “pornographic”, of films or shops, it dates from 1958;^[2][6] Etymonline remarks that this does the word no honour.^[2]

Timeline

• 1531 – adjective, grown up.^[3][6]
• 1658 – noun, an adult person.^[3][6]
• 1670 – of plants or languages, mature.^[6]
• 1851 – adult education.^[6]
• 1929 – mature in attitude.^[2][6]
• 1958 – euphemism for pornographic.^[2][6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person who is fully grown or has reached legal age.
2. A fully grown animal or plant.

Adjective

1. Fully grown and developed; mature.
2. Intended for or suitable for adults.
3. (euphemistic) Pornographic: adult films.

Word family

• adulthood
• adultness
• adultly
• adultlike
• nonadult
• preadult
• subadult
• unadult

Related words

• adolescent
• adolescence
• alimony
• alma mater
• altitude
• old

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press