girl
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- gal (colloquial)
- gel (British, slang)
- girle, gyrle (obsolete)
- grrrl, grrl (slang)
- guhrl, gurl (nonstandard)
- gworl (slang)
- gyal (MLE, MTE)
Etymology
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Tamil_girls_group.jpg/220px-Tamil_girls_group.jpg)
From Middle English gerle, girle, gyrle (“young person (boy or girl)”), perhaps from Old English *gyrele,[1] from Proto-West Germanic *gurilā, from a zero-grade diminutive of *gaurā (“young child”) + *-ilā. Ultimately of unknown origin.[2][3] Doublet of gal/gyal and gyaru.
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɡɜːɫ/, (obsolete) /ɡɛəl/, /ɡɪəl/[4]
- (General American) IPA(key): /ɡɝl/, /ɡɝ.əl/
Audio (Southern England): (file) Audio (US): (file) - (New Zealand) IPA(key): /ɡɵːl/, [ɡʏw]
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)l
- Homophone: Guirl
Noun
[edit]girl (countable and uncountable, plural girls)
- A young female human, or sometimes a young female animal.
- (sometimes offensive, see usage note) A woman, especially a young and often attractive woman.
- A female servant; a maid. (see usage notes)
- Synonyms: char, charlady, charwoman, maid, maiden, maidservant, womanservant
- (card games, slang, uncommon) A queen (the playing card).
- (colloquial) A term of endearment. (see usage notes)
- 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, →OCLC, section I, pages 5–6:
- 'Now, girls,' continued Healey, 'you're very high-spirited and that's as it should be but I won't have you getting out of hand. […]' […] Setting a spatted foot on the bench that ran down the middle of the changing-room with elegant distain, Adrian began to flip through a pile of Y-fronts and rugger shorts with his cane.
- One's girlfriend.
- 1922, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Girl from Hollywood:
- There isn't any guy going to steal my girl!
- 1996, Elizabeth Wong, Kimchee and Chitlins: A Serious Comedy about Getting Along, page 74:
- I took my girl to the cinema to watch your American movies.
- One's daughter.
- Your girl turned up on our doorstep.
- (UK, dialect, obsolete) A roebuck two years old.
- (US, slang, uncountable) Cocaine, especially in powder form.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cocaine
- 1969, Iceberg Slim, Pimp: The Story of My Life, Cash Money Content, published 2011, →ISBN, page 43:
- She had taught me to snort girl, and almost always when I came to her pad, there would be thin sparkling rows of crystal cocaine on the glass top of the cocktail table.
- 1977, Odie Hawkins, Chicago Hustle, Holloway House, published 1987, →ISBN, page 175:
- Elijah nodded congenially to the early evening regulars in the Afro Lounge, headed straight for the telephone hung midway between the mens and womens, his nose smarting from a couple thick lines of recently snorted girl.
- 2016 July 22, “Bussin” (track 3), in Fenix Flexin (lyrics), Shoreline Mafia (music), Party Pack[2]:
- Catch me playing with the plate, yeah I love the sauce
White girl in my nose, I need to clean it off
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:girl.
- A female non-human animal, especially, in affectionate address, a female pet, especially a dog.
- Are you getting a boy cat or a girl cat?
- (somewhat childish) A female (tree, gene, etc).
- 1950, Pageant:
- Are there “boy” trees and “girl” trees? Yes. A number of species, among them the yew, holly and date-bearing palm, have their male and female flowers on different trees. The male holly, for instance, must be planted fairly close to the female ...
- 1970 [earlier 1963], Helen V. Wilson, Helen Van Pelt, Helen Van Pelt's African Violets, Dutton Adult (→ISBN):
- Of the 100 percent total, 25 will have two girl genes, 50 will have one boy and one girl gene, and 25 will have two boy genes.
- 1972, GSN Gesneriad Saintpaulia News: African Violets, Gloxinias, Other Gesneriads and Exotic Plants:
- When there are two "girl" genes the plant is a girl dwarf.
- (informal) A machine or vehicle, especially one that the speaker uses often and is fond of.
- 1917 June 29, Les Enfant, “The Trials of Commuter Jones—a Would-Be Pumber”, in Metal Worker, Pumber, and Steam Fitter, volume 87, number 26, page 874:
- Daly came, delved into the old girl's inner works, and had her working in jig time.
- 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:
- “Quiet, everyone!” said Dad as he tried desperately to start the car. GRRR… GRRR… GRRR… Instead of shuddering into life, Queenie let out a low, grinding noise. “Oh no,” said Dad.
“What?” asked the boy.
“The engine must have flooded when she went upside down. The poor old girl won’t start again now for hours. We’re going to have to walk.”
- 2013, Rose George, Deep Sea and Foreign Going:
- The tired old girl was listing heavily in the heavy seas.
- 2024, William Halford, POR! Prince of Borland, page 58:
- I ran to my car and jumped in. "Come on, girl, start for me, baby!"
Usage notes
[edit]- (any woman, regardless of her age): An adult calling an unfamiliar grown woman a "girl" may be considered either a compliment or an insult, depending on context and sensibilities. In some cases, the term is used as a euphemism for virgin, to distinguish a female who has never engaged in sexual intercourse (a "girl") from one who has done so (and is a woman). Even if the word "girl" in most cases is not meant to be derogatory, it may still be patronising sometimes, especially when used to address someone older than oneself.
- (term of endearment): When used as a term of endearment, it can be used for someone female or, in some contexts, for someone male, such as the use within the gay community.
Derived terms
[edit]- acegirl
- all-girls
- altar girl
- antigirl
- apegirl
- Asian baby girl
- as the next girl
- atta girl
- attagirl
- away-day girl
- baby girl
- bad girl
- bagel girl
- ball girl
- bar girl
- bargirl
- batgirl
- beach-girl
- beachgirl
- beach girl
- bellgirl
- best girl
- b-girl
- B-girl
- big girl
- big girl pants
- big-girl pants
- big girl's blouse
- biogirl
- birl
- birthday girl
- Bond girl
- bottle girl
- bottom girl
- boy-girl
- boy-meets-girl
- boy meets girl
- boy or girl paradox
- boys and girls
- bruh girl
- bunny girl
- busgirl
- bus girl
- business girl
- callgirl
- call girl
- call-girl
- cam girl
- camgirl
- canary girl
- candy girl
- career girl
- carton girl
- cat girl
- catgirl
- cat-girl
- cavegirl
- champagne girl
- chill girl
- choir girl
- choirgirl
- chorus-girl
- chorus girl
- cigarette girl
- cisgirl
- city girl
- clean girl
- college girl
- comfort girl
- conyo girl
- copygirl
- cover-girl
- cover girl
- cowgirl
- cry like a little girl
- curls for the girls
- cute girls doing cute things
- cybergirl
- daddy's girl
- Daddy's girl
- dairygirl
- dancing girl
- dancing-girl
- daygirl
- demigirl
- diamonds are a girl's best friend
- dice girl
- dickgirl
- dirty girl
- dreamgirl
- e-girl
- Essex girl
- everygirl
- failgirl
- fake geek girl
- fancy girl
- fangirl
- farmgirl
- farm girl
- final girl
- flower girl
- fluff girl
- friendgirl
- friend girl
- gal
- genetic girl
- gentlegirl
- g-girl
- G-girl
- girl band
- girlboss
- girl-boy
- girlcation
- girlchik
- girlchild
- girlcock
- girlcott
- girl crazy
- girl crush
- girl-crush
- girldick
- girl dinner
- girldom
- girleen
- girlery
- girlfag
- girlfailure
- girl Friday
- girl-friend
- girl friend, girlfriend
- girl-friendly
- girlgasm
- girl goo
- girl grip
- girl group
- Girl Guides
- girlhood
- girl-hour
- girlie
- girlie girl
- girlification
- girl in every port
- girlish
- girlism
- girlitis
- girl juice
- girlkind
- girlless
- girllike
- girllove
- girllover
- girl math
- girlmeat
- girlmode
- girl-mode
- girlness
- girl next door
- girl-next-door
- girl parts
- girl power
- girlproof
- girl push-up
- girl racer
- girl rented overnight
- girls and boys
- girl scout
- Girl Scouts
- girls with guns
- girl talk
- girl trouble
- girltwink
- girlwatcher
- girlwatching
- girl wonder
- girly
- girly girl
- girlzine
- gock
- go-go girl
- golden girl
- good girl
- good-time girl
- good time girl
- goodtime girl
- grandgirl
- green girl
- grid girl
- grool
- grrrl
- haul girl
- head girl
- hello girl
- hollaback girl
- homegirl
- honeygirl
- Honeygirl
- horse girl
- hot girl summer
- housegirl
- ice girl
- idiot girl
- I'm a girl
- I'm a trans girl
- Indian boys and girls
- item girl
- It girl
- janegirl
- jeep girl
- Jersey girl
- Jewgirl
- joy girl
- juicy girl
- kanto girl
- KTV girl
- land girl
- lazy girl job
- leathergirl
- lift girl
- little girl
- little girls room
- lovergirl
- lt-girl
- lucky girl syndrome
- magical girl
- manic pixie dream girl
- match-girl
- matchgirl
- mean girl
- mergirl
- miss girl
- missing white girl syndrome
- modern girl
- mudflap girl
- musclegirl
- muscle girl
- nautch-girl
- nautch girl
- needle-girl
- needle girl
- newsgirl
- niggergirl
- nursegirl
- office girl
- oh girl
- old girl
- page three girl
- page-three girl
- paper girl
- papergirl
- party girl
- pick-me girl
- pissgirl
- pizza girl
- playgirl
- plowgirl
- pom-pom girl
- pompom girl
- ponygirl
- poor little rich girl
- poster girl
- postgirl
- pot-girl
- practice girl
- pussygirl
- ranchgirl
- reply girl
- ring girl
- riot girl
- riot grrrl
- rollergirl
- salesgirl
- sarong party girl
- schoolgirl
- scullery girl
- sea-girl
- second girl
- serving girl
- shipgirl
- shoeshine girl
- shopgirl
- showgirl
- singing girl
- sistergirl
- skingirl
- sky girl
- slavegirl
- slave-girl
- slave girl
- snowgirl
- soft girl
- spacegirl
- sporting girl
- sportsgirl
- stable girl
- stockgirl
- street girl
- Sunday girl
- supergirl
- Surrey girl
- sweater girl
- switchgirl
- telephone girl
- TG-girl
- TG girl
- tg-girl
- t-girl
- t-girl, tgirl
- that girl
- that's a girl
- the girl next door
- three-way girl
- tomgirl
- trans girl
- trans girl, transgirl
- TS girl
- valley girl
- Valley girl
- valley-girl
- van-girl
- vice girl
- video girl
- VSCO girl
- walk-on girl
- water girl
- weathergirl
- whipping girl
- white girl
- whitegirl
- white-girl wasted
- woman and girl
- wondergirl
- woo girl
- workgirl
- working girl
- ya girl
- young girl
- your girl
English terms starting with “girl”
Descendants
[edit]Translations
[edit]
|
زن (fa) (zan) بانو (fa) (bânu)
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
References
[edit]- ^ “girl(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007: “?OE *gyrela, from earlier *gurw-”.
- ^ Friedrich Kluge (1989) “Gör”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 272
- ^ Torp, Alf (1919) “Gorre”, in Nynorsk Etymologisk Ordbok, Oslo: H. Aschehoug and Co. (W. Nygaard), page 176
- ^ Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9)[1], volumes I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 12.63, page 351.
Verb
[edit]girl (third-person singular simple present girls, present participle girling, simple past and past participle girled)
- (transitive) To feminize or girlify; to gender as a girl or as for girls.
- 2005, Leerom Medovoi, Rebels: Youth and the Cold War Origins of Identity, page 293:
- Quite different is the way in which the tomboy girled the rebel narrative. In recent years, queer theorists have taken a deep interest in the tomboy as a prefigure for the butch dyke.
- 2011, Stephanie Harzewski, Chick Lit and Postfeminism:
- One can argue that the genre “yuppified” the popular romance novel or perhaps “girled” the not especially gender-specific concept of the young urban professional.
- (somewhat informal) To staff with or as a girl or girls.
- 1949, The New Yorker:
- Making our way past a one-girl switchboard temporarily girled by two frantic operators, we found the victorious president, Elliott A. Bowles, barely visible behind a heap of telegrams [...]
- 1961, The Georgia Review:
- Her first shock came when the ship on which she and her husband arrived was met by three boats “girled” by “great, splendid creatures, as tall as our millionaires' tallest daughters, and as strong-looking as any of our college-girl athletes,” ...
- 1986, Marcus Cunliffe, The Literature of the United States, New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, →ISBN:
- She and her Altrurian diplomat husband, arriving there by sea, are greeted by flower-laden boats, each not manned, but girled by six rowers, who pulled as true a stroke as I ever saw.
- 2009, Linda Howard, Night Moves: Dream Man/After the Night, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 220:
- To her disappointment, the chatty Carlene DuBois wasn't behind the desk; instead it was manned—or girled—by a frothy little blonde who barely looked old enough to be out of high school.
See also
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From English girl. Doublet of gow.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]girl f (plural girls)
Further reading
[edit]- “girl”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Scots
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Metathesis of grill (“shudder (with horror, dread, etc), shiver (as on hearing a grating sound”), from Old Scots gril, from Middle English grillen (“shudder, quake, be afraid; enrage”), from Old English griellan, grillan (“offend, annoy; gnash one's teeth at”).
Verb
[edit]girl
- to shiver or shudder
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:girl.
- to tingle unpleasantly, when hearing a grating noise or biting into an acidic or unripe fruit
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:girl.
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- English doublets
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)l
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)l/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English offensive terms
- en:Card games
- English slang
- English terms with uncommon senses
- English colloquialisms
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- British English
- English dialectal terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- American English
- English childish terms
- English informal terms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms of address
- en:Children
- en:Female
- en:People
- French terms borrowed from English
- French terms derived from English
- French doublets
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French feminine nouns
- Scots terms inherited from Middle English
- Scots terms derived from Middle English
- Scots terms inherited from Old English
- Scots terms derived from Old English
- Scots lemmas
- Scots verbs