puberty

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: pu=ber=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

puberty, n. [L. pubertas, fr. puber, pubes, adult: cf. F. puberté.].

•  The earliest age at which persons are capable of begetting or bearing children, usually considered, in temperate climates, to be about fourteen years in males and twelve in females.  [1913 Webster]
•  The period when a plant first bears flowers.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

puberty, n. the period during which adolescents reach sexual maturity and become capable of reproduction.

Idiom

age of puberty the age at which puberty begins, in law usu. 14 in boys and 12 in girls.

Derivative

pubertal adj.

Etymology

ME f. F pubert{eacute} or L pubertas f. puber adult

ROGET THESAURUS

puberty

Youth

N youth, juvenility, juvenescence, juniority, infancy, babyhood, childhood, boyhood, girlhood, youthhood, incunabula, minority, nonage, teens, tender age, bloom, cradle, nursery, leading strings, pupilage, puberty, pucelage, prime of life, flower of life, springtide of life, seedtime of life, golden season of life, heyday of youth, school days, rising generation, young, youthful, juvenile, green, callow, budding, sappy, puisne, beardless, under age, in one's teens, in statu pupillari, younger, junior, hebetic, unfledged, youth on the prow and pleasure at the helm, youth a the glad season of life.