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弱冠 (じゃっかん) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
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2
noun
youth ; early age ; tender age
Used more broadly to emphasize someone's young age, often in the pattern 弱冠～歳 for 'at the young age of ...'. Carries a nuance of precocious achievement or remarkable youth.
Usage patterns 弱じゃっ 冠かん 〈 数すう 〉 歳さい で 〈 動どう 詞し 〉 to achieve something at the remarkably young age of [number]
He became a company president at the tender age of 25.
弱じゃっ 冠かん 〈 数すう 〉 歳さい にして 〈 事こと 〉 at the young age of [number], already [accomplishment] (literary)
At the young age of just 18, he already became world champion.
Related words 若年 is a general, neutral term for 'youth' or 'young age', while 弱冠 specifically stresses how remarkably young someone is, often in the context of an achievement.
二十歳 is the plain, everyday word for 'twenty years old', whereas 弱冠 is a literary expression that carries a nuance of admirable youthfulness.
Written forms 弱じゃっ 冠かん Usage 100%
Standard kanji spelling; the first character 弱 means 'young' and 冠 refers to the traditional coming-of-age ceremony.
若じゃっ 冠かん
irregular kanji usage
Irregular kanji usage; 若 also means 'young' but this spelling is non-standard and rarely seen.
Etymology From Chinese 弱冠 (ruòguàn), literally 'young cap', referring to the ancient Chinese custom of a capping ceremony at age 20 to mark adulthood. The term was adopted into Japanese with the same meaning and later extended to refer to any remarkably young age.
