Adulthood

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state of being an adult involves reaching a certain age, taking on responsibilities, and attaining maturity in various aspects of life
2. The period in life when an individual is considered fully developed encompasses legal age, social responsibilities, and emotional maturity in personal affairs
3. This phase signifies the transition to a mature stage of life characterized by accepted roles, legal rights, and comprehensive responsibility for decisions

Etymology: The word is a plain compound: "adult" plus the suffix "-hood". The "-hood" part is an old English element, descended from "-hād", meaning state, condition or rank, and related to the word "hood" in its older sense of a person's rank or quality. It is the same ending found in "childhood" and "manhood", and it was attached to "adult" once "adult" had settled into English as a noun and adjective. "Adult" itself is more worth a look. It comes from Latin "adultus", the past participle of "adolescere", meaning "to grow up" or "to grow", which in turn was built from "ad" (toward) and "alere" (to nourish). The Latin root is therefore about nourishment and growth, not about having reached a finished state. The word reached English by way of French "adulte", which is why the modern form still looks more French than Latin. Put together, "adulthood" describes the condition that the Latin verb pointed toward: the state a growing person arrives at once they have been nourished into full development.

Synonyms: maturity, manhood, womanhood

Antonyms: childhood, immaturity