adulthood
noun
adulthood is spelled A-D-U-L-T-H-O-O-D: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, adulthood means “The state or condition, for humans and other animals, of physical and psychological maturity: being an adult” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of adulthood is adulthoods.
How many letters and syllables are in adulthood?
| Letters | 9: A-D-U-L-T-H-O-O-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.0 times per million words; the 12,940th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is adulthood?
Adulthood appears 4.0 times per million words in written English, the 12,940th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce adulthood?
- US
Adulthood has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vininn126-adulthood.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of adulthood
- adulthoods plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does adulthood mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The state or condition, for humans and other animals, of physical and psychological maturity: being an adult.
Meronyms: young adulthood; emerging adulthood (sometimes construed as coordinate)
- 2
The time period of a person's majority, following puberty and lasting until death.
Meronyms: young adulthood; emerging adulthood (sometimes construed as coordinate)
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Adulthood in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense time of life:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | âge adulte, majorité |
| German | Erwachsenenalter |
| Portuguese | idade adulta, fase adulta, adultez, adultícia, adultidade |
| Spanish | edad adulta, adultez |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does adulthood come from?
From adult + -hood.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).