Twentysomethings

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Individuals whose age is in the range of twenty to twenty-nine years, often considered young adults navigating early career and personal development stages
2. People typically aged from twenty to just under thirty, encompassing the decade of young adulthood marked by exploration and establishing independence
3. Members of the age group between twenty and thirty years old, generally experiencing transitional life phases such as education completion, career beginnings, and social growth

Etymology: The word is a plain compound: "twenty" joined to "-something," the same pattern that gives us "thirtysomething," "fortysomething" and the rest. The "-something" element works as a loose suffix meaning "a person of about this age," so "twentysomething" is a person somewhere in their twenties, and the plural adds the usual "-s" to refer to that whole group at once. Because the suffix is so productive, the pattern has been extended in both directions. Once "twentysomething" was established, it became easy to coin "thirtysomething" for people in their thirties and "fortysomething" for those in their forties, and the same construction has been used for other ages and for loose groupings of any kind. The formation is transparent: nothing in it is borrowed or adapted from another language, and the meaning follows directly from the two parts.

Synonyms: young adults, millennials, youth, twenties

Antonyms: middle-agers, seniors, elderly