teen

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tiːn/^[1]

teen¹ teenager

Etymology

The modern word is from -teen, the ending of the numbers thirteen to nineteen,^[2][3][4] later felt as a shortening of teenager, which is a younger word.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Teens, the years of a person's life from thirteen to nineteen: 1673 in the OED.^[5]

Semantic evolution

A young person in their teens is from 1818, though rare before the 20th century and now chiefly North American.^[2][5] The adjective, of or for teenagers, is from 1947.^[2][6] The teens of a century or a temperature scale are also so called.^[7][4]

Timeline

• 1673 – teens, years of age.^[5]
• 1818 – a teenager.^[2][5]
• 1947 – the adjective.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A teenager.
2. (teens) The years of one's age from thirteen to nineteen; also the numbers 13 to 19.

Adjective

1. (informal) Teenage: teen fashion.

teen² grief, harm (obsolete)

Etymology

The old word is Middle English tene, inherited from Old English tēona (“injury, anger, grief”),^[2][3] akin to Old Frisian tiona “injury”, Old Saxon tiono and Old Norse tjón “loss”.^[3][8] The verb is Old English tēonian “to afflict”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Harm inflicted or suffered, injury: 971 in the OED.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Irritation, anger or spite is from about 1200, and affliction, grief or woe from about 1290, now archaic.^[5] It is now obsolete except in Scots and northern dialect,^[4][8] where the verb meant to irritate or anger.^[4][9]

Timeline

• 971 – harm, injury.^[5]
• c. 1200 – anger, vexation.^[5]
• c. 1290 – grief, woe.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (archaic) Grief, sorrow or affliction.

Related words

• teenager
• teenage
• -teen
• ten

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)