puberty

English

Etymology

From Middle English puberte, from Old French puberté, from Latin pūbertās (“the age of maturity, manhood”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpjuː.bə.ti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

puberty (countable and uncountable, plural puberties)

1. A developmental phase brought about by the action of hormones as part of the maturing process. For humans, there are three in total.
   • 2014, Lewis Wolpert, Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?, →ISBN:

     Girls undergoing puberty show an increase in the total output of cortisol, which is related to stress, while boys show little increase.

   1. (more common) The process of sexual development that produces secondary sex characteristics and makes a person capable of reproducing sexually.
2. The age at which a person is first capable of sexual reproduction.
   • 2009, The Development of Children Study Guide, →ISBN, page 241:

     As shown in Figure 14.4 of the textbook, children reach puberty at different ages in different countries; within those nations, children living in cities tend to reach puberty earlier than those living in rural areas.

3. The period when a plant begins to flower.(The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

Meronyms

• (process of adolescence): thelarche, pubarche, growth spurt, menarche, gonadarche, adrenarche

Derived terms

• delayed puberty
• precocious puberty
• puberty blocker
• puberty inhibitor
• second puberty

Translations

developmental phase

• German: Geschlechtsreifung f, Reifezeit (de) f, Pubertät (de) f

age at which a person is first capable of sexual reproduction

• Arabic: بُلُوغ m (bulūḡ)
• Armenian: սեռական հասունություն (hy) (seṙakan hasunutʻyun)
• Asturian: pubertá f
• Belarusian: палавая спеласць f (palavaja spjelascʹ), палавое выспяванне n (palavóje vyspjavannje)
• Bengali: বয়ঃসন্ধি (bn) (boẏoḥśondhi), বয়ঃসন্ধিকাল (bn) (boẏoḥśondhikal)
• Catalan: pubertat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 青春期 (zh) (qīngchūnqī), 思春期 (zh) (sīchūnqī), 發情／发情 (zh) (fāqíng), 發身／发身 (zh) (fāshēn), 發育期／发育期 (zh) (fāyùqī)

• Czech: puberta (cs) f
• Danish: pubertet (da) c
• Dutch: puberteit (nl)
• Esperanto: pubereco
• Faroese: kynsbúning f, (colloquial) pubertetur m
• Finnish: murrosikä (fi), puberteetti (fi), varhaismurrosikä
• French: puberté (fr) f
• Galician: puberdade (gl) f
• Georgian: სქესობრივი სიმწიფე (skesobrivi simc̣ipe)
• German: Geschlechtsreife (de) f, geschlechtsreifes Alter n
• Greek: εφηβεία (el) f (efiveía)

  Ancient: ἥβη f (hḗbē), ἐφηβεία f (ephēbeía)

• Hindi: यौवनारंभ m (yauvnārambh), वयःसंधि (hi) f (vayaḥsandhi)
• Hungarian: serdülőkor (hu), pubertás (hu)
• Indonesian: usia pancaroba, pubesens (id)
• Italian: pubertà (it) f
• Japanese: 思春期 (ja) (ししゅんき, shishunki)
• Khmer: ភាពពេញវ័យ (phiəppɨñvɨy)
• Korean: 사춘기(思春期) (ko) (sachun'gi)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: temenê pêgihîştînê, temenê xwenasînê

• Latin: pūbertās f
• Macedonian: пубертет m (pubertet)
• Malay: baligh, puberti
• Maori: pūhuruhurutanga
• Marathi: पौगंडावस्था n (paugaṇḍāvasthā)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pubertet m

  Nynorsk: pubertet m

• Polish: dojrzewanie płciowe n, pokwitanie (pl) c, okres dojrzewania m
• Portuguese: puberdade (pt) f
• Romanian: pubertate (ro) f
• Russian: полова́я зре́лость f (polovája zrélostʹ), полово́е созрева́ние n (polovóje sozrevánije)
• Sanskrit: वयःसंधि (sa) m (vayaḥsaṃdhi)
• Serbo-Croatian: pubertet (sh)
• Spanish: pubertad (es) f
• Swedish: pubertet (sv) c
• Tagalog: mulansuplingan
• Thai: ความเป็นหนุ่มสาว, วัยแรกรุ่น (th)
• Turkish: ergenlik dönemi (tr)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: dậy thì (vi)
• Welsh: glasoed m, blaenaeddfedrwydd m

Further reading

• “puberty”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “puberty”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Puberty”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume VII (O–P), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1557, column 3.