prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2016-08-16 07:51 am

pubescent

pubescent (pyoo-BES-uhnt) - adj., reaching or having reached puberty.


Also a botanical sense: covered with down or fine short hair, but that's not important right now. Adopted in 1646 by Sir Thomas Browne from Latin pūbēscent-, the stem form of pūbēscēns, present participle of pūbēscere, to reach puberty, from pūbēs, adult. Note that the word puberty had already been borrowed over two centuries before.

---L.

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