the two or three-year period before the onset of puberty
prepuberty in American English
(priˈpjuːbərti)
noun
Physiology
the period of life just prior to sexual maturation
Derived forms
prepubertalprepuberal
adjective
prepubertallyprepuberally
adverb
Word origin
[1920–25; pre- + puberty]This word is first recorded in the period 1920–25. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Unknown Soldier, checkout, montage, superpower, zipperpre- is a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, where it meant “before”(preclude; prevent); applied freely as a prefix, with the meanings “prior to,” “in advance of,” “early,”“beforehand,” “before,” “in front of,” and with other figurative meanings (preschool; prewar; prepay: preoral; prefrontal)
Examples of 'prepuberty' in a sentence
prepuberty
At prepuberty, she was referred for poor growth and was diagnosed with partial growth hormone deficiency.
Cotterill Andrew, Tiong Keith, Falhammar Henrik 2010, 'Adult case of partial trisomy 9q', BMC Medical Geneticshttp://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2350/11/26. Retrieved from DOAJ CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode)