• adj. 青春期的；未成熟的
• n. 青少年

前綴ad-, 去，往。詞根ol, 成長，同adult. -esce, 起始動詞后綴，即成長中的。

adolescent

adolescent: [15] The original notion lying behind both adolescent and adult is of ‘nourishment’. The Latin verb alere meant ‘nourish’ (alimentary and alimony come from it, and it is related to old). A derivative of this, denoting the beginning of an action, was alēscere ‘be nourished’, hence ‘grow’. The addition of the prefix ad- produced adolēscere.

Its present participial stem, adolēscent- ‘growing’, passed into English as the noun adolescent ‘a youth’ (the adjective appears not to have occurred before the end of the 18th century). Its past participle, adultus ‘grown’, was adopted into English as adult in the 16th century.
=> adult, alimentary, alimony, coalesce, coalition, proletarian, prolific

adolescent (n.)

mid-15c., "youth, young man," from Middle French adolescent (15c.) or directly from Latin adolescentem (nominative adolescens) "growing, near maturity, youthful," present participle of adolescere "grow up, come to maturity, ripen," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + alescere "be nourished," hence, "increase, grow up," inchoative of alere "to nourish" (see old). Adolesce was a back-formed verb used early 20c. by H.G. Wells, G.B. Shaw, Louis MacNeice, but it seems not to have taken.

adolescent (adj.)

1785, from Latin adolescentem (nominative adolescens) "growing, near maturity, youthful," present participle of adolescere "grow up, come to maturity, ripen" (see adolescent (n.)).

1. Adolescent suicide is rarely an impulsive reaction to immediate distress.

青少年自殺很少是由于突然發生不幸而作出的沖動反應。

來自柯林斯例句

2. He spent his adolescent years playing guitar in the church band.

他在教堂的樂隊里彈吉他，度過了他的青少年時期。

來自柯林斯例句

3. A little adolescent rebellion is commonly believed to be healthy.

大家一致認為，青少年有點叛逆是正常的。

來自柯林斯例句

4. Parents worry about the effect of music on their adolescent's behavior.

父母擔心音樂對青春期孩子的行為所產生的影響。

來自柯林斯例句

5. Why give publicity to this self-indulgent, adolescent oaf?

為什么要宣傳報道這個行為任性、青春期未滿的白癡呢？

來自柯林斯例句