teen

¹

[teen]

adjective

1. teenage.

noun

1. a teenager.

teen

²

[teen]

noun

1. Archaic.,  suffering; grief.

2. Obsolete.,  injury; harm.

-teen

³

1. a suffix used to form cardinal numerals from 13 to 19.

-teen

¹

combining form

1. ten: added to modified forms of the numbers 3 to 9 to form the numbers 13 to 19

teen

²

/ tiːn /

adjective

1. informal,  another word for teenage

teen

³

/ tiːn /

noun

1. obsolete,  affliction or woe

Other Word Forms

• -teenth combining form

Word History and Origins

Origin of teen¹

First recorded in 1940–45; by shortening

Origin of teen²

before 1000; Middle English tene, Old English tēona; cognate with Old Frisian tiona, Old Saxon tiono, Old Norse tjōn

Origin of teen³

Middle English, Old English -tēne, combining form of ten; cognate with Dutch -tien, German -zehn

Word History and Origins

Origin of teen¹

Old English -tēne, -tӯne

Origin of teen²

Old English tēona; related to Old Saxon tiono, Old Frisian tiona injury

Example Sentences

It’s the journey of a teen; with Season 2, we can change it, and Jenna was in an agreement with that.

From Los Angeles Times

Intimate relationships have been a cause of pain and struggle for me from my early teens until I finally found the help I needed at age 50.

From Los Angeles Times

Corey Feldman, known for 1980s films including “The Goonies” and “Stand by Me,” is there as the show’s Gen X former teen idol.

From Los Angeles Times

"Where is my new car, Land Rover," the hackers - who are thought to be teens - posted to taunt the company.

From BBC

OpenAI said it would introduce what it called "strengthened protections for teens" within the next month.

From BBC

Related Words

• juvenile 
• youngster 

When To Use

What does -teen mean?

The suffix -teen means “ten.” It is used to form cardinal numbers from 13 to 19.The form -teen comes from Old English -tēne, meaning “ten.” The Latin cognate of -tēne is -decim, from decem, also meaning “ten.” Find out how dozen is related to the combining form -decim at our entry for the word.