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Synonyms

teen

1 American  
[teen] / tin /

adjective

  1. teenage.

noun

  1. a teenager.

teen 2 American  
[teen] / tin /

noun

  1. Archaic. suffering; grief.

  2. Obsolete. injury; harm.

-teen 3 American  

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

-teen 1 British  

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 British  
/ 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 British  
/ 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

Usage

What does -teen mean? The suffix -teen 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.

Other Word Forms

  • -teenth combining form

Etymology

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"History is happening right in front of our eyes right now," the teen added, "and it's important that we're speaking up for what we believe in at such an important time."

From Barron's • Mar. 28, 2026

Both companies intend to appeal, with Meta maintaining a single app cannot be solely responsible for a teen mental health crisis.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

Hundreds of millions of teens have teen accounts, which were introduced in 2024, Meta said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

Bystanders filmed the teen screaming that he was a minor and a U.S. citizen.

From Salon • Mar. 26, 2026

In hindsight, I'm almost ashamed of how ridiculous my teen dramas were.

From "I Will Always Write Back" by Caitlin Alifirenka and Martin Ganda

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.