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View synonyms for teen

teen

1

[ teen ]

adjective



noun

  1. a teenager.

teen

2

[ teen ]

noun

  1. Archaic. suffering; grief.
  2. Obsolete. injury; harm.

-teen

3
  1. a suffix used to form cardinal numerals from 13 to 19.

-teen

1

combining form

  1. ten: added to modified forms of the numbers 3 to 9 to form the numbers 13 to 19
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


teen

2

/ tiːn /

adjective

  1. informal.
    another word for teenage
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

teen

3

/ tiːn /

noun

  1. obsolete.
    affliction or woe
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • -teenth, combining_form:in_adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of teen1

First recorded in 1940–45; by shortening

Origin of teen2

before 1000; Middle English tene, Old English tēona; cognate with Old Frisian tiona, Old Saxon tiono, Old Norse tjōn

Origin of teen3

Middle English, Old English -tēne, combining form of ten; cognate with Dutch -tien, German -zehn
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Word History and Origins

Origin of teen1

Old English -tēne, -tӯne

Origin of teen2

Old English tēona; related to Old Saxon tiono, Old Frisian tiona injury
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Example Sentences

Yes, it was a fairly disappointing year in music—one devoid of Goth teen prodigies, Yeezy, and galvanizing rock anthems.

The reigning queen of hip-hop treads the boards in her teen years.

Growing up as a teen in the 1960s, she had yearned to wear the same clothes her girlfriends wore.

As a teen, she wowed in films like Donnie Darko and Saved!

If the ongoing Hollywood scandal were a teen thriller from the 90s.

In the year 1819 an act of Parliament was proposed limiting the labor of children nine years of age to four-teen hours a day.

She seemed to be more like a somewhat bashful teen-ager who had been educated in a convent.

Expone e too versus afore: this present craft ys called Algorismus, in e quych we vse teen signys of Inde.

But he vndirstondes e first figure at is in e nombur of e forsayd teen figuris, e quych is one of ese.

I once visited in a home where a teen-age girl was having one of her frequent “tragic” love experiences.

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Related Words

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Words That Use -teen

What does -teen mean?

The suffixteen means “ten.” It is used to form cardinal numbers from 13 to 19.

The form –teen comes from Old English –tēne, meaning “ten.” The Latin cognate of –tēne is –decim, from decem, also meaning “ten.” Find out how dozen is related to the combining form –decim at our entry for the word.

Examples of -teen

An example of a word you may have likely encountered that features –teen is fourteen, “a cardinal number, ten plus four.”

As you may have guessed, four means “the cardinal number four (4).” The suffix –teen means “ten.” Fourteen literally means “four and ten.”

What are some words that use the combining form –teen?

What are some other forms that –teen may be commonly confused with?

Not every word that ends with the exact letters –teen, such as mangosteen or canteen, is necessarily using the combining form –teen to denote “ten.” Learn why canteen means “cafeteria” at our entry for the word.

Break it down!

Given the meaning of –teen, what does seventeen literally mean?

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