This study assesses if correspondence existed between concepts scholars use to discuss positive youth development (PYD) and terms used by practitioners, parents, and youth to discuss exemplary PYD, or thriving. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of 173 interviews about the meaning of thriving found no significant commonality between the terms used in the scholarly literature and the specific words or phrases used by the adult and youth participants. However, the terms generated by the adults and youthwere able to be grouped into categories that reflect the general concepts used in the PYD literature (e.g., the five Cs of competence, confidence, connection, character, caring, and the sixth C, contribution). Applications to public education youth programs are discussed.