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puberty [puberty 词源字典]: puberty: [14] Latin pūber denoted ‘adult’, and hence, by implication, ‘covered in hair’. Both strands of meaning have followed the word into English: ‘adulthood’ by way of the derivative pūbertās, source of English puberty, and ‘hairiness’ in pubescent [17], which means ‘downy’ as well as ‘having reached puberty’. And the two are combined in pubic ‘relating to the region of the groin where hair begins to grow at puberty’ [19].
[puberty etymology, puberty origin, 英语词源]
prepubescent (adj.): 1883, from pre- + pubescent.
puberty (n.): "the time of life in which the two sexes begin first to be acquainted" [Johnson], late 14c., from Old French puberté and directly from Latin pubertatem (nominative pubertas) "age of maturity, manhood," from pubes (genitive pubertis) "adult, full-grown, manly." Related: Puberal; pubertal.
pubes (n.): 1560s, "pubic hair," from Latin pubes "pubescent, arrived at the age of puberty, of ripe years, grown up," also, as a noun, "a sign of puberty" (such as pubic hair), also "young men of the age of puberty" (see puberty). In 19c. also "pubic bone," and earlier "part of either hip bone that forms the front of the pelvis," from Latin os pubis, from pubes "genital area." In modern slang, monosyllable, a familiar shortening of pubic hairs (see pubic).
pubescence (n.): early 15c., Middle French pubescence, from Medieval Latin pubescentia, noun of state from Latin pubescentem (nominative pubescens), present participle of pubescere "grow up; ripen, come to maturity; reach the age of puberty, arrive at puberty," from pubes "adult, full-grown" (see puberty).
pubescent (adj.): 1610s, a back-formation from pubescence, or else from French pubescent (early 16c.) or directly from Latin pubescentem (nominative pubescens), present participle of pubescere "to reach puberty" (see pubescence).
post-puberal: "= post-pubertal", 1930s.
post-pubertal: "Occurring after the attainment of puberty", Late 19th cent.; earliest use found in Albert Buck (1842–1922).