adult

See also: adùlt

English

Etymology

From French adulte, from Latin adultus (“grown up”), perfect passive participle of adolescō (“I grow up”). Compare adolescent.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈæd.ʌlt/, /ˈæd.əlt/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /əˈdʌlt/, /ˈæd.əlt/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

  • Audio (Canada); /ˈæd.əlt/:

    (file)

  • Audio (Canada); /əˈdʌlt/:

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌlt

Noun

adult (plural adults)

1. A fully grown human or other animal.
   • 1840, Georges Cuvier, Edward Blyth, Robert Mudie, George Johnston, J.O. Westwood, “The fourth order of reptiles—The batrachians”, in Cuvier's Animal Kingdom‎^[1], page 286:

     The young not only differs from the adult by the presence of its gills, but its feet are only developed by degrees, and in several genera there are also a deciduous beak and tail, and intestines of a different form

2. A person who has reached the legal age of majority.

Synonyms

• (fully grown human or other animal): grown up; see also Thesaurus:adult

Translations

fully grown human

• Afrikaans: grootmens, volwassene
• Albanian: i rritur (sq) m
• Arabic: بَالِغ m (bāliḡ), رَاشِد (ar) m (rāšid)
• Armenian: մեծահասակ (hy) (mecahasak), չափահաս (hy) (čʻapʻahas)
• Asturian: adultu m, adulta f
• Azerbaijani: yaşlı adam, yetkin
• Belarusian: даро́слы m (darósly), даро́слая f (daróslaja)
• Bengali: প্রাপ্তবয়স্ক (bn) (praptoboẏosko)
• Bulgarian: въ́зрастен (bg) m (vǎ́zrasten), въ́зрастна (bg) f (vǎ́zrastna)
• Burmese: လူကြီး (my) (lu-kri:)
• Catalan: adult (ca) m, adulta (ca) f
• Chichewa: mkulu
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 大人 (daai⁶ jan⁴)

  Mandarin: 成人 (zh) (chéngrén), 大人 (zh) (dàrén), 成年 (zh) (chéngnián)

• Czech: dospělý (cs) m (cf. dospělák (cs) m), dospělá f
• Danish: voksen (da) c
• Dutch: volwassene (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: adolto, viradolto (male), adoltino (female), plenkreskulo, virplenkreskulo (male), plenkreskulino (female)
• Estonian: täiskasvanu, täisealine
• Finnish: aikuinen (fi)
• French: adulte (fr) m or f, grande personne (fr) f, grand (fr) m
• Galician: adulto (gl) m, adulta f
• Georgian: ზრდასრული (zrdasruli), სრულწლოვანი (srulc̣lovani), მოწიფული (moc̣ipuli), მოზრდილი (mozrdili), ზრდადამთავრებული (zrdadamtavrebuli), სრულასაკოვანი (srulasaḳovani)
• German: Erwachsener (de) m, Erwachsene (de) f
• Greek: ενήλικας (el) m or f (enílikas), ενήλικος (el) m or f (enílikos)
• Haitian Creole: granmoun
• Hebrew: מבוגר \ מְבֻגָּר (he) m (mevugár), מבוגרת \ מְבֻגֶּרֶת f (mevugéret)
• Hindi: वयस्क (hi) m (vayask), बालिग़ (bāliġ)
• Hungarian: felnőtt (hu)
• Icelandic: fullorðinn (is) m
• Ido: adulto (io), adultulo (io) (male), adultino (io) (female)
• Indonesian: dewasa (id)
• Irish: duine fásta m, duine aosach m, duine (ga) m, aosach m
• Italian: adulto (it) m, adulta (it) f
• Japanese: 成人 (ja) (せいじん, seijin), 大人 (ja) (おとな, otona)
• Kazakh: үлкен (kk) (ülken), ересек (kk) (eresek)
• Khmer: មនុស្សពេញវ័យ (mɔnuh pɨñ vɨy)
• Korean: 성인(成人) (ko) (seong'in), 어른 (ko) (eoreun)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: mirovê gihîştî n

• Kyrgyz: бойго жеткен (boygo jetken)
• Lao: ຜູ້ໃຫຍ່ (phū nyai)
• Latin: adultus (la) m, adulta f
• Latvian: pieaugušais m
• Lithuanian: suaugęs m, suaugusi f
• Macedonian: возрасен m (vozrasen), возрасна f (vozrasna)
• Malay: dewasa
• Maori: pakeke, paheke (refers to people), kātua (refers to animals), pāhake
• Mirandese: adulto m, adulta f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: voksen (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: vaksen (nn) m or f

• Occitan: adulte (oc)
• Odia: ପ୍ରାପ୍ତବୟସ୍କ (or) (prāptabayaska)
• Okinawan: 大人 (うふっちゅ, ufutchu)
• Pashto: بالغ (ps) m (bāleǧ)
• Persian: بزرگسال (bozorgsâl), بالغ (fa) (bâleğ), کلانسال (kalânsâl) (Dari)
• Polish: dorosły (pl) m, dorosła f, osoba dorosła f (generally)
• Portuguese: adulto (pt) m, adulta (pt) f
• Romagnol: adùlt m
• Romanian: adult (ro) m, adultă (ro) f
• Russian: взро́слый (ru) m (vzróslyj), взро́слая (ru) f (vzróslaja)
• Sanskrit: प्रौढ (sa) m (prauḍha)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: о̀дра̄стао m, пу̏нолетан m, пу̏нољетан m

  Roman: òdrāstao (sh) m, pȕnoletan (sh) m, pȕnoljetan (sh) m

• Sinhalese: වැඩිහිටියා (si) (wæḍihiṭiyā)
• Slovak: dospelý (sk) m, dospelá f
• Slovene: odrasel m, odrasla f
• Spanish: adulto (es) m, adulta (es) f
• Swahili: mtu mzima
• Swedish: vuxen (sv) c
• Tagalog: maygulang, nasagulang, adulto
• Tajik: болиғ (boliġ)
• Thai: ผู้ใหญ่ (th) (pûu-yài)
• Tocharian B: orotstse
• Turkish: yetişkin (tr)
• Ukrainian: доро́слий m (doróslyj), доро́сла f (dorósla)
• Urdu: بالِغ (bāliġ)
• Uzbek: katta yoshli
• Vietnamese: người lớn (vi)
• Volapük: daülan (vo), hidaülan (male), jidaülan (female)
• Welsh: oedolyn (cy) m
• Yoruba: àgbàlagbà

Adjective

adult (comparative more adult, superlative most adult)

1. Fully grown.

   an adult human, animal, or plant

   • 1837, Michael Donovan, Domestic Economy: Human Food, Animal and Vegetable‎^[2], page 86:

     The paws of the adult brown bear, and also their hams, especially when smoked, are considered a great delicacy.

2. Intended for or restricted to adults rather than children due to size, maturity, knowledge level, judgement, etc.

   adult clothes; adult cereal; an adult documentary

   • 1973, Marshall Kaplan, Gans, and Kahn, Children and the urban environment (page 21)

     In May 1967 the WGBH Education Division submitted an initial proposal to HUD for a series of four adult television documentaries on conservation in an urban environment.

   1. Containing situations or discussions intended primarily for adults, such as serious crime, illicit drug use, extramarital affairs, etc.

      adult situations; adult discussions

   2. (of a beverage) Containing alcohol, intended for consumption only by adults.

      an adult drink; an adult root beer float

   3. (of a cookie, gummy, etc.) Containing marijuana, intended for consumption only by adults.

      an adult cookie; adult gummy worms

   4. Containing material of an explicit sexual nature; pornographic.

      an adult movie

      This program contains adult content. Parental discretion is advised.

   5. Containing excessive vulgar or profane speech, text or images, intended only for adults.

      adult language; an adult cartoon

Synonyms

• (fully grown): big, fully grown, grown up; see also Thesaurus:full-grown
• (intended for adults): grown up; see also Thesaurus:adultlike or Thesaurus:for adults
• (containing explicit sexual material): pornographic, X-rated, XXX, XXXX; see also Thesaurus:pornographic
• (vulgar): blue, indecent, obscene, salacious; see also Thesaurus:obscene

Derived terms

• adult actress
• adult baby
• adult beverage
• adult bookstore
• adultcentrism
• adult contemporary
• adult content
• adult education
• adultescent
• adult film
• adulticide
• adultification
• adultify
• adultish
• adultism
• adultivity
• adultization
• adultize
• adult learner
• adultlike
• adultly
• adult material
• adult movie
• adultness
• adultocentric
• adultoid
• adult-onset diabetes
• adultophile
• adult relations
• adult respiratory distress syndrome
• adultship
• adult shop
• adultspeak
• adult star
• adult survivor
• adult third culture kid
• adultwear
• adulty
• appropriate adult
• consenting adult
• Disney adult
• emerging adult
• hyperadult
• kidult
• new adult
• nonadult
• older adult
• preadult
• pseudoadult
• subadult
• unadult
• young adult

 

Related terms

• adolescent
• adulthood

Translations

fully grown

• Afrikaans: volwasse
• Armenian: հասուն (hy) (hasun)
• Asturian: adultu
• Belarusian: даро́слы (darósly)
• Bulgarian: въ́зрастен (bg) (vǎ́zrasten), пълноле́тен (bg) (pǎlnoléten)
• Catalan: adult (ca)
• Central Sierra Miwok: ˀypé·la-
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 成人 (zh) (chéngrén)

• Czech: dospělý (cs)
• Dutch: volwassen (nl)
• Esperanto: plenkreska, adolta
• Estonian: täiskasvanu
• Finnish: aikuinen (fi)
• French: adulte (fr)
• Galician: adulto (gl)
• German: erwachsen (de)
• Gothic: 𐍆𐌿𐌻𐌻𐌰𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 (fullaweis)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἁδρός (hadrós), τέλειος m (téleios)

• Hindi: वयस्क (hi) (vayask)
• Irish: fásta, aosach, aosaithe
• Italian: adulto (it) m, adulta (it) f
• Kazakh: кәмелеттік (kämelettık)
• Korean: 다 자란 (da jaran)
• Latin: pubēs, puber, adultus (la)
• Latvian: pieaudzis
• Mirandese: adulto m, adulta f
• Polish: dorosły (pl) m, dorosła f
• Portuguese: adulto (pt)
• Romagnol: adùlt
• Romanian: adult (ro)
• Russian: взро́слый (ru) (vzróslyj)
• Sanskrit: वृद्ध (sa) (vṛddha)
• Slovak: dospelý (sk)
• Slovene: odrasel
• Spanish: adulto (es)
• Swedish: vuxen (sv)
• Tagalog: adulto
• Tocharian B: śrāy
• Turkish: yetişkin (tr), ergin (tr)
• Ukrainian: доро́слий (doróslyj)
• Vietnamese: trưởng thành (vi) (長成)
• Volapük: daülik (vo) (cf. daül)
• Welsh: mewn oed

intended for adults

• Bulgarian: за възрастни (za vǎzrastni)
• Finnish: aikuis-, aikuisille suunnattu
• German: für Erwachsene (postpositioned)
• Irish: aosach m, d'aosaigh
• Italian: per adulti
• Korean: 성인의 (ko) (seong'inui)
• Macedonian: за возрасни (za vozrasni)
• Polish: dla dorosłych
• Russian: для взро́слых (dlja vzróslyx)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: za odrasle

• Swedish: vuxen-
• Turkish: yetişkin (tr)
• Welsh: (i) oedolion

euphemistic: pornographic

Verb

adult (third-person singular simple present adults, present participle adulting, simple past and past participle adulted)

1. (intransitive, slang) To behave like an adult.

   Adulting is hard!

3. (nonstandard, rare) To (cause to) be or become an adult.
   • 1974, Occasional Papers, numbers 42-46, Syracuse University, page 5:

     Womanhood was achieved at twenty-one, when the female was "adulted"; manhood was fully achieved at twenty-five, […]

   • 2013, Ewa Rewers, The Contradictions of Urban Art, →ISBN, page 84:

     The process of adulting children […] overlaps with the process of the uncontrolled infiltration of the media […] into children’s imagination.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:adult.

Further reading

• “adult”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “adult”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• talud

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin adultus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [əˈðul]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [əˈðult]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [aˈðult]

Adjective

adult (feminine adulta, masculine plural adults, feminine plural adultes)

1. adult (fully grown)

Derived terms

• adultesa

Noun

adult m (plural adults, feminine adulta)

1. adult (fully grown person)

Further reading

• “adult” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Adjective

adult (strong nominative masculine singular adulter, not comparable)

1. (medicine) adult

Declension

Positive forms of adult (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist adult	sie ist adult	es ist adult	sie sind adult
strong declension (without article)	nominative	adulter	adulte	adultes	adulte
	genitive	adulten	adulter	adulten	adulter
	dative	adultem	adulter	adultem	adulten
	accusative	adulten	adulte	adultes	adulte
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der adulte	die adulte	das adulte	die adulten
	genitive	des adulten	der adulten	des adulten	der adulten
	dative	dem adulten	der adulten	dem adulten	den adulten
	accusative	den adulten	die adulte	das adulte	die adulten
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein adulter	eine adulte	ein adultes	(keine) adulten
	genitive	eines adulten	einer adulten	eines adulten	(keiner) adulten
	dative	einem adulten	einer adulten	einem adulten	(keinen) adulten
	accusative	einen adulten	eine adulte	ein adultes	(keine) adulten

See also

• erwachsen
• Erwachsener, Erwachsene

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French adulte, from Latin adultus (“grown up”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈdult/

Adjective

adult m or n (feminine singular adultă, masculine plural adulți, feminine and neuter plural adulte)

1. adult

Declension

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	adult		adultă		adulți	adulte
	definite	adultul		adulta		adulții	adultele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	adult		adulte		adulți	adulte
	definite	adultului		adultei		adulților	adultilor

Noun

adult m (plural adulți, feminine equivalent adultă)

1. adult

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	adult	adultul		adulți	adulții
genitive-dative	adult	adultului		adulți	adulților
vocative	adultule			adulților