Jump To:

• youth
  youth

  noun

  the condition of being young.
• Youth
  Youth

  noun

  Isle of Youth an island in the Caribbean, a special municipality in southern Cuba. 1,182 sq. mi. (3,060 sq. km).

youth

¹ American  

[yooth] / juθ /

noun

• youths,
  plural
• youth
  plural

1. the condition of being young.

   Antonyms:

   maturity

2. the appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit, etc., characteristic of one who is young.

3. the time of being young; early life.

   His youth was spent on the farm.

   Synonyms:

   immaturity, minority

   Antonyms:

   maturity

4. the period of life from puberty to the attainment of full growth; adolescence.

5. the first or early period of anything.

   The business, even in its youth, showed great potential.

6. young persons collectively.

7. a young person, especially a young man or male adolescent.

   Synonyms:

   boy, lad, stripling, adolescent, teenager, youngster

---

Youth ² American  

[yooth] / juθ /

noun

1. Isle of Youth an island in the Caribbean, a special municipality in southern Cuba. 1,182 sq. mi. (3,060 sq. km).

---

youth ¹ British  

/ juːθ /

noun

1. the quality or condition of being young, immature, or inexperienced

   his youth told against him in the contest

2. the period between childhood and maturity, esp adolescence and early adulthood

3. the freshness, vigour, or vitality characteristic of young people

   youth shone out from her face

4. any period of early development

   the project was in its youth

5. a young person, esp a young man or boy

6. young people collectively

   youth everywhere is rising in revolt

---

Youth ² British  

/ juːθ /

noun

1. Spanish name: Isla de la Juventud.  Former name: Isle of Pines.  an island in the NW Caribbean, south of Cuba: administratively part of Cuba from 1925. Chief town: Nueva Gerona. Pop: 80 600 (2002 est). Area: 3061 sq km (1182 sq miles)

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• youthless
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• youth
  plural
• youths
  plural

Etymology

Origin of youth

First recorded before 900; Middle English youthe, Old English geoguth; cognate with Dutch jeugd, German Jugend

Explanation

If you're not a little kid anymore, but you're not really an adult yet, you can describe this period of your life as your youth. You can use the noun youth in several ways — you might refer to a kid as a youth, describe the group of teenagers hanging out downtown as youth, or talk about the time in your life when you were young and carefree as your youth. In all cases, youth comes from the Old English geoguth, which is closely related to the root of young: geong.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

youth Youth youths

I spent the past year submitting open-records requests to state agencies, universities and youth health programs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

She spent a year at La Masia, Barcelona's famous youth academy, but had to leave when her girls team was disbanded.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

Modi, a keen user of X, has turned to Instagram -- issuing his first vertical videos to tap into the youth medium of choice.

From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026

Another youth safety case involving Meta is also headed to trial this month in California.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

Komsomolskaya Pravda, the Communist Party’s youth newspaper, published a feature about her.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

As recently as December 2024, the Colorado School of Public Health paid 12- to 18-year-olds to participate in weekly meetings of the Queer Youth Network.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

She helped establish the French branch of Youth Aliyah; by 1936, some 120 children had reached Palestine through its efforts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

The pair studied together and shared a room at the missionary organisation Youth With A Mission in Switzerland in 2013.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

Yellin and Farahnik raised $30,000 through the nonprofit Sparks of Kindness Youth Fund, the pair told the Pasadena Star-News.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

They organized the Hitler Youth as an army, complete with regiments.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

The furious mum said the situation got "frightening" and her son had a "tug-of-war" with the youths to get his bike back.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

Elsewhere in the fenced-off city, Spanish soldiers ushered hundreds of other migrants, mostly young men and youths, through Ceuta's palm-lined streets to the border to return to Morocco.

From Barron's ● Aug. 1, 2026

He looks vulnerable as India’s unemployed youths transform an insult into a political rallying cry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

The new analysis included more than 25,000 participants enrolled in a long-running study of U.S. youths.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 23, 2026

Arya had seen them in the bailey a hundred times; the Redwyne twins, Ser Hdras and Ser Hobber, homely youths with orange hair and sqfiare, freckled faces.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

Related Words

• minority
• teens