teen

See also: -teen, and teen-

Pronunciation

enPR: tēn, IPA^(key): /tiːn/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -iːn

Etymology 1

Clipping of teenager. For more synonyms see at Thesaurus:teenager.

Noun

teen (plural teens)

Synonym of teenager: a person between 13 and 19 years old.
In the safety alert, the NTSB educates parents on the risks and outlines what they can do to protect their teens against marijuana-impaired driving., NTSB, NTSB Issues Safety Alert on Dangers of Marijuana for Teen Drivers, 18 July 2024
- 2024, NTSB, Intersection Crash Between Passenger Car and Combination Vehicle, Tishomingo, Oklahoma, March 22, 2022:
  We found that teen drivers and the public largely misunderstand the legal status of cannabis use and do not fully recognize the risks of cannabis-impaired driving.

Derived terms

Adjective

teen (not comparable)

Of or having to do with teenagers; teenage
teen fashion

Etymology 2

From Middle English tene, from Old English tēona, tēone, *tēon, from Proto-Germanic *teuną.

Noun

teen (plural teens)

(archaic) Grief; sorrow; trouble.
Synonyms: ill-fortune, harm, suffering
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
  In which the birds song many a lovely lay / Of Gods high praise, and of their loves sweet teene, / As it an earthly Paradize had beene […]
- 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, X, xxv:
  The Soldan changed hue for grief and teen, / On that sad book his shame and loss he lear'd.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 2:
  Miranda: O my heart bleedes / To thinke oth' teene that I haue turn'd you to, / Which is from my remembrance, […]
- 1866, Algernon Swinburne, Faustine:
  Your soul forgot her joys, forgot / Her times of teen; / Yea, this life likewise will you not / Forget
- 1867, Matthew Arnold, A Southern Night:
  With public toil and private teen Thou sank'st alone.
- 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night, XXI:
  That City's sombre Patroness and Queen, / In bronze sublimity she gazes forth / Over her Capital of teen and threne
(archaic or obsolete) Vexation; anger; hate.

Translations

grief, sorrow, suffering

Bulgarian: мъка (bg) f (mǎka), скръб (bg) f (skrǎb)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 痛苦 (tung³ fu²)
Russian: бе́дствие (ru) n (bédstvije), го́ре (ru) n (góre), несча́стье (ru) n (nesčástʹje)

Etymology 3

From Middle English tenen, from Old English tēonian, tȳnan (“to vex, annoy, provoke”), from Proto-West Germanic *tiunijan, from Proto-Germanic *tiunijaną.

Verb

teen (third-person singular simple present teens, present participle teening, simple past and past participle teened)

(transitive, obsolete) To excite; to provoke; to vex; to afflict; to injure.
(reflexive, obsolete) To become angry or distressed.
- c. 1385, William Langland, Piers Plowman, section II:
  Þenne tened hym theologye · whan he þis tale herde

Etymology 4

From Middle English tenen, tinen, from Old English tȳnan (“to fence, inclose, shut, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *tūnijan, from Proto-West Germanic *tūn, from Proto-Germanic *tūną (“fence, enclosure”). Doublet of tine. Cognate with Dutch tuinen, German zäunen. Related to English town.

Verb

teen (third-person singular simple present teens, present participle teening, simple past and past participle teened)

(transitive, obsolete or dialectal, Devon) To close, to shut; to enclose, to hedge or fence in.
- 1874 (1879), Waugh, Chim. Corner, 75:
  Hie tho' off […] or th' dur may be teen'd.
- 1919, Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, page 75:
  It is still heard in Devon , especially by older dialect speakers, in such expressions as “I'an't a-teen'd my eyes all night”; “Teen the door, will ' e?”
- 1924, Eden Phillpotts, Redcliff, page 244:
  She whimpered and whined about it till, in self-defence, I rose up and teened the candle and got into my breeches.

References

“teen”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

-tene, EENT, NEET, neet

Alternative forms

teun (archaic)

Etymology

From Dutch tegen, from Middle Dutch tegen, tjegen, from te jegen, the latter from Old Dutch gegin, from Proto-Germanic *gagin.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /tɪən/
Audio: (file)

Preposition

teen

against

Noun

teen

genitive plural of te

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!
Particularly: “Hearing this in audio, it sounds like it has stød between the two "e"s?”

Noun

teen c

definite singular of te

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈteːn/
Audio: (file)
Hyphenation: teen
Rhymes: -eːn

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch têe, from Old Dutch *tēa, from Proto-Germanic *taihwǭ. The modern form was originally a plural (retained in van top tot teen), which was reanalysed as a singular. Compare schoen where the same has happened, or raaf which went the opposite way.