iuvenilis

iuvenilis is a Latin adjective meaning youthful or juvenile. It is used to describe people or things associated with youth, attributes of a young age, or the qualities of early life. The term derives from iuvenis, meaning a young man, and the suffix -ilis, forming a standard three-part adjective that agrees with the noun it modifies in gender, number, and case.

In classical Latin, iuvenilis typically appears with nouns to express characteristics pertaining to youth. For example, it could modify a noun such as vir (man) or virtus (virtue) to convey the sense of youthful manhood or youthful virtue. The standard forms are iuvenilis (masculine and feminine singular), iuvenile (neuter singular), with corresponding plural forms such as iuveniles (masc./fem.) and iuvenilia (neuter). The neuter singular often appears as iuvenile, reflecting its role as a neuter adjective.

Etymology and related terms: iuvenilis is the source of the English word juvenile, which entered English via Old French from Latin iūvenilis. The sense remains close to “of youth,” though English uses juvenile in a broader range of contexts, including law, psychology, and everyday language.

Usage notes: iuvenilis is primarily a descriptive term in Latin rather than a technical term with a fixed sense beyond “youthful.” It appears in literary, religious, and scholastic Latin, and its derivatives influence modern Romance languages as well as English loanwords such as juvenile or juvenility.