# youth

Pronunciation: say "YOOTH" /juːθ/

## Noun

1. Young people considered collectively, especially as a group within a society.
   - Simple: Young people of a place or time, thought of together as one group.
   - _The country's youth turned out in large numbers to vote._
   - _Community centers were built to keep local youth engaged after school._
2. The early part of life following childhood and preceding full maturity or adulthood.
   - Simple: The time of life when you are young, after being a child and before being an adult.
   - _The novel follows a girl through her youth in a quiet coastal town._
   - _Many people look back on their youth as a carefree and hopeful time._
3. A young person, especially a teenage boy or young man.
   - Simple: A young person, most often a teenage boy or young man.
   - _A youth in a school uniform asked for directions to the station._
   - _Two youths were seen leaving the building just before noon._
4. The condition or quality of being young rather than old.
   - Simple: The state of being young, before a person grows old.
   - _The portrait captured all the freshness and brightness of her youth._
   - _He spoke with the confidence and vigor of youth._

## Origin

From Middle English youthe, from Old English ġeoguþ ("the state of being young; youth"), going back through Proto-West Germanic and Proto-Germanic. It corresponds to 'young' plus '-th', a suffix forming abstract nouns, and is related to Dutch jeugd and German Jugend.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/youth (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).