tweenager
English
Etymology
Blend of between + teenager. Attested as early as the 1950s, but popularized in the late 20th or early 21st century.
Noun
tweenager (plural tweenagers)
- A young person who is not yet technically a teenager (being less than thirteen years old), but starting to act like one: generally eight to twelve years old.
- 1994, Mary Manz Simon, How to Parent Your “Tweenager”, page 6:
- Your eight to twelve year old is in the gray area between early childhood and the teen years. He is a child in the middle—a “tweenager.”
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Synonyms
- See Thesaurus:preteen
Related terms
- tween
References
- “tweenager”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- Michael Quinnion (April 28, 2001), “Tweenager”, in World Wide Words