I was wondering because a CNN headline reads (in part) "Teen, 12, helps..."
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Is 12 years old considered a teenager?
- Thread starter Flying Spaghetti Monster
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As a 12 year old has begun their thirteenth year of life, one might say yes. By that one might then say a nineteen year old is no longer a teen. Koreans start count from birth, the first year is one year old, first birthday is 2 years and so on. To say that more clearly, they do age by saying they are in their first, twelfth, or fiftieth year.
The more current term for that age (10-12) would be a "tween," but that's kind of an obnoxious word that comes with the implied baggage of Beiber and sparkly vampire love.
Really? I think of 12 year olds as teenagers. For most girls that age, puberty has already started.
I've always thought of teenagers as the ages ending in "teen" through adulthood (13-18) and not with any connection to when puberty started. There are nine-year-old girls and even younger in some cases who start to undergo puberty, but I wouldn't think of them as teenagers yet.
Well, no, that's not the only criterion, of course, just one factor. The deciding factor is age, I'd say. Technically, you're a teenager at 11. And I think it's around that age that one starts to get into music, first crushes and the like, too, which is what I associate with being a teenager.
I consider anyone age from 13 years until, and including 19 years old as being teenagers. I became a mother at 19 and I consider myself to have been a teenaged mother.
I wouldn't consider a 12 year old to be a teenager and I don't see why anyone would.
I wouldn't consider a 12 year old to be a teenager and I don't see why anyone would.
Well, if a news site needs to find a short, correct, and well established word in this context, what's wrong with calling a 12-year-old a youth?
In no way is a 12-year-old a teen.
In no way is a 12-year-old a teen.
No way....not unless you pronounce 12 as "twelveteen."
It is eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, etc.
This is just so silly I had to comment. So many people seem to need shades of gray with everything, as if there were some inherent evil in absolutes. Well, you know what? Sometimes white is actually white and sometimes black is actually black.
It has nothing to do with maturity, puberty, the way in which years are counted in a particular country or culture, or anything else. If the number includes "teen," then it's a teenager and if it doesn't, it isn't.
It is eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, etc.
This is just so silly I had to comment. So many people seem to need shades of gray with everything, as if there were some inherent evil in absolutes. Well, you know what? Sometimes white is actually white and sometimes black is actually black.
It has nothing to do with maturity, puberty, the way in which years are counted in a particular country or culture, or anything else. If the number includes "teen," then it's a teenager and if it doesn't, it isn't.
It's not "serious business", JohnChod answered the question bluntly because some of you, quite frankly, gave stupid answers (not you, Locutus).
I defy any of you to find any written definition of the word "teenage" anywhere that includes an 11 year old. The first dozen definition returns on google say 13-19, numbers ending in the suffix "teen". Wiki says the same thing. It has nothing to do with when someone hits puberty, that's for sure. So yeah, I'd say whatever intern wrote that website copy is a bit of an idiot, or simply copying whatever idiot reporters sent to him/her in a rush without thinking about it.
I defy any of you to find any written definition of the word "teenage" anywhere that includes an 11 year old. The first dozen definition returns on google say 13-19, numbers ending in the suffix "teen". Wiki says the same thing. It has nothing to do with when someone hits puberty, that's for sure. So yeah, I'd say whatever intern wrote that website copy is a bit of an idiot, or simply copying whatever idiot reporters sent to him/her in a rush without thinking about it.
I always thought "tween" was used for 20-29 year olds. A mix between twenty and teen.
In my country a 12-year-old is a teenager. The word "12" has "-teen" ending in my language, so I'd say a lot depends on a country and language, if the whole teenager classification is based on a language. Before reading this thread it wouldn't even occur to me not to think of a 12-year-old as a teenager. I remember celebrating my 12th birthday and being soooo proud of finally becoming a teenager 
I call those 20-somethings.
"Tween," at least in recent years, has meant people in the 11-12 range who aren't quite teenagers yet.
^ Same here (about the 20-somethings).
I had no quibble with his explanation, it was just "the evils of absolutism and black is black and white is white" bit that was a tad over-the-top for a discussion about what the definition of a teen is. It felt like Obi-Wan and Anakin were about to throwdown over some lava fields.
I had no quibble with his explanation, it was just "the evils of absolutism and black is black and white is white" bit that was a tad over-the-top for a discussion about what the definition of a teen is. It felt like Obi-Wan and Anakin were about to throwdown over some lava fields.
I thought the same. Awkward.
Oh well, in my native tongue 'teenager' is an imported word and thus the connection to numbers ending in 'teen' isn't as obvious. So, the term is more vague. I always thought it had more to do with hitting the 'tens', so to speak. I'll continue thinking of 12-year-olds as teenagers.
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