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single word requests - What do you call a person who has a relationship with a much younger adult?


What do I call someone who marries or has a sexual relationship with someone much younger than themselves? Their partner is someone who is at least 18 years old.


The term paedophile is not the correct word, because it refers to minors.



Answer




cradle-snatcher
someone who has a romantic or sexual relationship with a much younger partner (thefreedictionary.com)



You could try forcing a "neologism" such as juvenophile, but any term with this general sense is likely to be derogatory and/or humorous.



Noting @James's simultaneous post with an unfamiliar (to me) alternative version, I should just add that both forms apparently coexist in AmE, but cradle-robber is virtually unknown in BrE.


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