Teen vs. Tween
2023-07-15
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1Hi there. This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question about the difference between "teen" and "tween."
2Hello VOA Learning English,
3I am Abdirohim from Somalia. Could you kindly explain and further explore the differences and usage between these two words: "tweens" and "teens?''
4Thanks,
5Abdirohim
6Thanks for you for this interesting question, Abdirohim! Both words refer to very young people.
7There are major differences in the ages of these two groups.
8Let's look not only at the meanings of these two words but also how they were made. Let's start with "teen."
9The word "teen" is a noun that means a young person from ages thirteen to nineteen.
10We get this word from the ending of the numbers, like thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and so on.
11Many teens enjoy hanging out with their friends.
12When he was a teen, he loved the Beatles music.
13We combine "teen" with "age" to make "teenage," an adjective that describes someone who is in their teens.
14The movie "Mean Girls" is about a group of teenage girls in high school.
15We can also add an "-er" ending to "teenage" to make another noun with the same meaning as "teen."
16Some teenagers like to go against their parents.
17Now, let's move on to "tween."
18The word "tween" is a blend of the two words "teen" and "between."
19It is a special blend word since it combines not only the spellings of the two words but the meanings as well.
20The word is used to describe the age group between a child and a teenager.
21The earliest age for "tweens" is eight or nine years old, and the oldest age goes up to twelve.
22Many tweens go to a middle school after completing elementary and before going to high school.
23Maria looks after tweens who are not old enough to be by themselves.
24We also call this group of young people "preteens," with the prefix "pre" to mean "before."
25A fun fact about the history of "tween" is that it may have come from JRR Tolkien who wrote The Lord of the Ring books.
26Some say he came up with "tween" to describe an in-between age for his characters called "hobbits."
27Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Abdirohim.
28Do 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 learningenglish@voanews.com.
29And that's Ask a Teacher.
30I'm Faith Pirlo.
1Hi there. This week on Ask a Teacher, we will answer a question about the difference between "teen" and "tween." 2Question: 3Hello VOA Learning English, 4I am Abdirohim from Somalia. Could you kindly explain and further explore the differences and usage between these two words: "tweens" and "teens?'' 5Thanks, 6Abdirohim 7Answer: 8Thanks for you for this interesting question, Abdirohim! Both words refer to very young people. 9There 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." 10Teen 11The 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. 12Many teens enjoy hanging out with their friends. 13When he was a teen, he loved the Beatles music. 14We combine "teen" with "age" to make "teenage," an adjective that describes someone who is in their teens. 15The movie "Mean Girls" is about a group of teenage girls in high school. 16We can also add an "-er" ending to "teenage" to make another noun with the same meaning as "teen." 17Some teenagers like to go against their parents. 18Now, let's move on to "tween." 19Tween 20The word "tween" is a blend of the two words "teen" and "between." 21It 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. 22Many tweens go to a middle school after completing elementary and before going to high school. 23Maria looks after tweens who are not old enough to be by themselves. 24We also call this group of young people "preteens," with the prefix "pre" to mean "before." 25A 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." 26Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Abdirohim. 27Do 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 learningenglish@voanews.com. 28And that's Ask a Teacher. 29I'm Faith Pirlo. 30Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 31_____________________________________________________________________ 32Words in This Story 33blend - n. a word made by combining parts of two words 34elementary - adj. relating to or teaching the basic subjects of education 35character -n. a person who appears in a story, for example in a book or television show 36____________________________________________________________________ 37Do you have a question for the teacher? We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 38Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.