Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Contemporary (2000–) ·2008
Adulting
adult -ing
- Meaning
- Performing the responsibilities expected of an adult; ironic self-framing of small adult tasks.
- Source words
- adult + -ing
- Coined by
- unknown
- Year
- 2008
Background
Circulated on Twitter from 2008; a 2016 Kelly Williams Brown self-help book *Adulting* and the US lexicographic short-list pushed it mainstream. Describes a specific millennial discomfort with the markers of adulthood.
Contemporary (2000–)
Faster coinage, faster canonisation. Brexit and podcast both reached the OED within a decade of first use — historically rapid. Social media has made visibility, not invention, the rate-limiting step.
Two words, one coinage.
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