youth
youth Lexical Profile
youth Game Scores & Validity
• noun
The period between childhood and adult age; the state or quality of being young, energetic, or immature.
"She spent much of her youth traveling across Europe with her family."
Young people considered collectively as a group.
"The community center offers free coding workshops to empower local youth."
An individual young person, especially a young man or boy.
"A group of local youths volunteered to clean up the neighborhood park over the weekend."
An early stage in the existence or development of something, such as an institution, movement, or nation.
"Cinema was still in its youth when silent films captivated global audiences."
Word Nuance & Usage
When referring to the stage of life or to young people collectively, 'youth' is uncountable and takes no plural ending (e.g., 'the youth of today'); when referring to individual young people (especially young men), it is countable and takes the plural 'youths'.
• Rhymes for youth
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'geoguþ', of Proto-Germanic origin and directly related to the adjective 'young' and German 'Jugend'.