adolescent

Forms

adolescent (feminine adolescente, masculine plural adolescents, feminine plural adolescentes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin adolēscēns (“growing up, young”), the present participle of adolēscō (“to grow up”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} In Latin the participle was used as a noun for a young man, and of a young woman, from Plautus on, where it is spelled adulēscēns; the TLFi notes that Latin had no figurative use of it.^[2]

Rey calls the Latin verb of uncertain origin: it forms an opposed pair with abolēscō and aboleō (whence abolir), and both may share a source with alō (“to nourish”) (whence aliment), whose past participle is altus (“high”).^[4] Littré makes the same connection, following Benfey, and rejects a link with Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first found in 1327 in Jean de Vignay's Miroir historial, of a young boy who falls from a window while asleep.^[2][7][8] Dauzat mentions an earlier use in a 13th-century Paris Bible, but gives no quotation.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The feminine adolescente “young girl” appears in the 15th century.^[2][4][7] In classical French the masculine noun was learned or ironic: from 1634 it could mean a naive, inexperienced young man, and Richelet (1680) says that it was used only in jest;^[4][2] Furetière and the Trévoux dictionary define it as a thoughtless young man without experience.^[4][2]

The adjective is recorded in Ronsard's age adolescent “the age of adolescence” (before 1585); from the late 17th century it was also used figuratively of things that are new or not yet mature.^[2][4] The noun seems to have come back into use in the 19th century and became common in the 20th, when it gave the familiar clipping ado (1974), used mostly in the plural les ados.^[4][8]

Timeline

• 1327 – Jean de Vignay uses the noun for a young boy.^[2]
• 15th century – The feminine noun is recorded, in Guillaume Tardif's translation of Poggio.^[2][4]
• Before 1585 – Ronsard uses the adjective in age adolescent.^[2][6]
• 1634 – The masculine noun is used for a naive, inexperienced young man.^[4]
• 1680 – Richelet notes that it is said only in jest.^[2]
• 1798 – The Académie records the feminine noun.^[2]
• 1974 – The clipping ado appears.^[4][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A boy or girl at the age of adolescence; an adolescent, teenager.^[8][2][5]
2. (dated, ironic) An inexperienced young man.^[2][6]

Adjective

1. At the age of adolescence: Elle était encore adolescente quand elle partit.^[9][5]
2. Belonging to adolescence;^[9][2] (figurative) new, not yet mature.^[9][2]

Word family

• ado
• pré-adolescent

Related words

• adolescence
• adulte
• Latin adolēscō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse