Differences between 青年 and 男子

[Dante404]

Hello, I've looked up both 青年　and 男子 in the dictionary, and it seems to be that they have exactly the same meaning: Youth, young man.
I can't find the difference anywhere. Could anybody tell me in which contexts is better to use one or another?
For example, could 男子 be used talking about a man in his twenties? 　

Thanks in advance.

[thegooseking]

dante404さん、

It's just a feeling, but I feel like the difference is in what they're being compared to. To me, it feels like 男子 is a young man (i.e. as opposed to a young woman), while 青年 is a young man (i.e. as opposed to a child or an old man).

This can be seen in other compounds where they appear. For instance, 男子禁制 means "women only" (literally, "men excluded"), while 青年輩 means "young people" collectively.

小狼

[community.japanese]

dante404さん
こんにちは。
I think 小狼さん explained it well.

小狼さん,
どうもありがとうございました。

Yuki　由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com