🧑 Ages 30-39 📻 1930s decade

thirties

35 1.0

The time in a person's life between the ages of 30 and 40

noun
/ˈθɜrˌtiz/

: treinta

In her thirties, she finally achieved the work-life balance she had always sought.

Examples

His thirties were a turning point in his personal and professional life.
Many people feel more confident in their thirties.
Many people feel more confident in their thirties than they did in their twenties.
She travelled extensively during her thirties before settling down.
She is enjoying her thirties more than her twenties.
Many people feel a sense of purpose when they enter their thirties and begin to settle into their careers.
He often reflects on the lessons he learned during his thirties that shaped his adult life.

Synonyms

thirty-something

vsthirties

Informal

14 3.4

A person aged between 30 and 39 or the years between those ages

covers ages 30 up to 40 rather than stopping at 39

thirtyish

vsthirties

Informal

1 4.2

About thirty years old based on how someone looks

refers to the full decade from age 30 to age 40

Compounds

mid-thirties

7 2.8

A time in life when someone is about 34 to 36 years old

How Old

fifties

14 2.0

forties

14 2.5

thirties

35 1.0

twenties

64 1.1

teens

56 1.0

Surface Forms

thirties plural

Morphology

thirties = thirty (transparent) = thirty + s

Simple pluralization of the numeral expresses the set of years or ages in the 30s; meaning is the regular, expected extension of 'thirty'.

Etymology

The word thirties comes from thirty, which originally meant 'three tens', a number made of three and ten. So when we say someone is in their thirties, we mean they are between thirty and thirty-nine, the years that belong to the 'thirty' group.