Puberty

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈpjuː.bə.ti/

Definitions

1. The biological stage of development when a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction
2. The developmental period in which an individual undergoes significant physical and hormonal changes, resulting in sexual maturation and the transition from childhood into adulthood
3. The life phase characterized by biological and hormonal transformations that lead to sexual maturity and the ending of childhood

Etymology: The English word comes through a long chain of borrowings. It arrived in Middle English as "puberte", taken from Old French "puberté", which in turn descends from Latin "pūbertās", meaning the age of maturity or manhood. The Latin root is "pūbes", referring to adult body hair, so the word has always been tied to the physical signs that mark the transition from childhood to adulthood. That physical emphasis is the heart of the story. Latin speakers did not reach for an abstract idea of maturity; they pointed at a visible change on the body. The English noun carried that sense forward into the medical and biological vocabulary that now describes the process of sexual maturation.

Synonyms: adolescence, teenage years