Etymologically
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teenager

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 14:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈtiːnˌeɪ̯d͡ʒə/ (UK); /ˈtinˌeɪdʒɚ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English teenage + -er,[2][3] also written teen ager and teen-ager.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person in their teens: 1913 in HTOED, 1922 in Etymonline, 1941 in the OED.[5][4][6] SOED dates it to the mid-20th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

The earlier word was teener, American English from 1894,[4] and teen had been used as a noun for a teenaged person from 1818, though rarely before the 20th century.[4] The Times Literary Supplement, quoted by SOED, remarked that teenagers had not been invented in the 1880s.[3]

Timeline

  • 1818 – teen, a teenager.[4]
  • 1894 – teener.[4]
  • 1913 – teenager.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person aged between thirteen and nineteen; an adolescent.

Word family

  • preteenager

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  6. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press