youth
pronunciation
How to pronounce youth in British English:
UK [juːθ]
How to pronounce youth in American English:
US [juːθ]
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- Noun:
- a young person (especially a young man or boy)
- young people collectively
- the time of life between childhood and maturity
- early maturity; the state of being young or immature or inexperienced
- an early period of development
- the freshness and vitality characteristic of a young person
Word Origin
- youth (n.)
- Old English geoguð "youth; young people, junior warriors; young of cattle," related to geong "young," from Proto-Germanic *jugunthi- (cognates: Old Saxon juguth, Old Frisian jogethe, Middle Dutch joghet, Dutch jeugd, Old High German jugund, German Jugend, Gothic junda "youth"), from suffixed form of PIE root *yeu- "vital force, youthful vigor" (see young (adj.)) + Proto-Germanic abstract noun suffix *-itho (see -th (2)). According to OED, the Proto-Germanic form apparently was altered from *juwunthiz by influence of its contrast, *dugunthiz "ability" (source of Old English duguð). In Middle English, the medial -g- became a yogh, which then disappeared. They said that age was truth, and that the youngMarred with wild hopes the peace of slavery[Shelley]
Synonym
youngster kid slip lass lad lady teenager schoolgirl fry youngsters chick junior maiden children young man boys adolesents把ǎ: adolescent cadet juvenile youngling sprig schoolboy girls mademoiselle lassie child minor kitten teens one puppy stripling whelp small fledgling girl teen-ager sprite teen chit chicken spring boy whippersnapper maid and sapling
Antonym
Example
- 1. Critics have accused the show of corrupting chinese youth .
- 2. Mr solzhenitsyn was a loyal communist in his youth .
- 3. You can 't buy youth . We 've tried .
- 4. The cost of youth unemployment is not only financial , but also emotional .
- 5. All this-as well as the activity of conservative youth groups that disapprove-is co-ordinated electronically .