"adult children" is sometimes used in contexts where age is important, such as a form requiring someone to list all children under 18 and all adult children living with them. And someone might use it to emphasise that their children have left home or aren't dependent on them. But you wouldn't introduce someone as "my adult child/ren".
If an adult gets kidnapped, would it still be considered "kid"napping? [duplicate] Ask Question Asked 11 years, 7 months ago Modified 11 years, 7 months ago
16 The word adult appear to have derived from the Latin term adultus, meaning grown up, mature, adult, ripe. Adulterate (and its cognate adultery) is reported to derive from the Latin adulterare - to falsify, corrupt. Are the meanings and derivation of adult and adulterate, directly related, or is this just a coincidence of spelling?
Etymonline comments: Specific sense of "adult male of the human race" (distinguished from a woman or boy) is by late Old English (c. 1000); implying that "man" was used in a purely non-gendered way before then.
There's also the term "blue laws", for laws restricting activities on the Sabbath. It also has an unknown origin, although some sites guess that they were printed on blue paper (Snopes says they can't find any evidence of this).
"Adult children" comes from "adult children of alcoholics", but now has broader reference to adults who were abused emotionally, physically or sexually in childhood.
What term can be used for an adult, especially a man, who is in his forties and still behaves like a teenager, shunning responsibilities typical of mature people, preferring to enjoy himself?
A young/prime adult, according to Erik Erikson's stages of human development, is generally a person between the age of 20 - 40, whereas an adolescent is a person between the age of 13 - 19, 1 [2] although definitions and opinions vary.
