adulte French · revision 38638

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1394|origins=la adolēscō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /a.dylt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''adulte''' (plural adultes)^(Wiktionary)

+ First recorded as ''aduls'' (1394); the form ''adulte'' is a remaking of the 16th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|adultus|t=grown up]], the past participle of [[m|la|adolēscō|t=to grow up]], used especially in [[m|la|adulta virgo|t=marriageable girl]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|24, 186b) The present participle of the same verb gave [[adolescent]].^(Wiktionary)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ Compare [[oc|adulto]], [[ca|adult]], [[es|adulto]] and [[it|adulto]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in 1394 in the ''Livre des Bouillons'' of Bordeaux, of a man who has reached the end of childhood: ''aduls, c'est assavoir greigneurs de .XIIII. ans'' “adults, that is, older than fourteen”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Until the 17th century the word was close to what [[adolescent]] means today, and Furetière (1690) still defines it as one who is entering adolescence; it took its present sense only at the end of the 17th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) It was used as a noun from 1570, as a byname of Jupiter, and Furetière notes that the noun was hardly used outside theology; it entered everyday language at the beginning of the 19th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It was applied to animals (1699), to plants (1814) and figuratively to languages (1845).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Courses and schools ''pour adultes'' date from 1835.^(DHLF 1992) In the 20th century the word came to mean psychological maturity, and ''pour adultes'' took on a sexual sense under the influence of American English ''adult''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1394 – ''Aduls'' in a Bordeaux record.^(TLFi)

+ * 16th century – The remade form ''adulte''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1570 – The noun, as a byname of Jupiter.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1690 – Furetière defines it as “entering adolescence”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1699 – Of animals.^(TLFi)

+ * 1814 – Of plants, in Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.^(TLFi)

+ * 1835 – ''Cours d'adultes''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of a living being: fully grown, [[m|en|mature]]: ''un animal adulte'', ''une plante adulte'', ''l'âge adulte'', from the end of adolescence to old age.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Of a person: mature in mind and behaviour, as opposed to [[m|en|infantile]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Of things: fully developed.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|adult]], a grown man or woman: ''un film réservé aux adultes''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[adultisme]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[adolescent]]

+ * [[la|adultus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}