VOA名师答疑2023--Teen vs. Tween

Teen vs. Tween

Hi there. This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question about the difference between "teen" and "tween."

Question:

Hello VOA Learning English,

I am Abdirohim from Somalia. Could you kindly¹ explain and further explore the differences and usage² between these two words: "tweens" and "teens?''

Thanks,

Abdirohim

Answer:

Thanks for you for this interesting question, Abdirohim! Both words refer to very young people.

There are major differences in the ages of these two groups. Let's look not only at the meanings of these two words but also how they were made. Let's start with "teen."

Teen

The word "teen" is a noun that means a young person from ages thirteen to nineteen. We get this word from the ending of the numbers, like thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and so on.

Many teens enjoy hanging out with their friends.

When he was a teen, he loved the Beatles music.

We combine "teen" with "age" to make "teenage," an adjective that describes someone who is in their teens.

The movie "Mean Girls" is about a group of teenage girls in high school.

We can also add an "-er" ending to "teenage" to make another noun with the same meaning as "teen."

Some teenagers like to go against their parents.

Now, let's move on to "tween."

Tween

The word "tween" is a blend of the two words "teen" and "between."

It is a special blend word since it combines not only the spellings of the two words but the meanings as well. The word is used to describe the age group between a child and a teenager. The earliest age for "tweens" is eight or nine years old, and the oldest age goes up to twelve.

Many tweens go to a middle school after completing elementary and before going to high school.

Maria looks after tweens who are not old enough to be by themselves.

We also call this group of young people "preteens," with the prefix³ "pre" to mean "before."

A fun fact about the history of "tween" is that it may have come from JRR Tolkien who wrote The Lord of the Ring books. Some say he came up with "tween" to describe an in-between age for his characters called "hobbits."

Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Abdirohim.

Do you know any other blend words in English or have a question about them? You can send these and other questions you have about American English to our email at [email protected].

And that's Ask a Teacher.

Words in This Story

blend – n. a word made by combining parts of two words

elementary – adj. relating to or teaching the basic subjects of education

character –n. a person who appears in a story, for example in a book or television show

1 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

2 usage   

n.惯用法，使用，用法

参考例句：

• I am clear about the usage of this word at last.这个词的用法我算是弄明白了。
• The usage is now firmly established.这种用法现已得到确认。

3 prefix   

n.前缀；vt.加…作为前缀；置于前面

参考例句：

• We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
• In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。