girlfriend

See also: girl friend

English

Alternative forms

• girl friend, girl-friend

Etymology

girl +‎ friend

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɝlfɹɛnd/
• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɜːlfɹɛnd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: girl‧friend

Noun

girlfriend (plural girlfriends)

1. A female partner in an unmarried romantic relationship.

   Coordinate term: boyfriend

   Marc went to the park with his girlfriend and watched the sunset with her.

   • 1966, “The Man Trap”, in Star Trek: The Original Series, season 1, episode 1 (television production), spoken by Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Paramount Pictures:

     Want to pick some flowers, doctor? When a man visits an old girlfriend she usually expects something like that.

2. A female friend.

   Synonym: (slang) chickfriend

   Mary always enjoyed hanging out with her girlfriend Jessica.

Usage notes

• The term is used to refer to any girl or woman in a romantic relationship with another person.
• An adult woman in such a non-marital relationship is sometimes referred to instead as a significant other or partner, especially if the two partners are living together. Because girlfriend and partner mean different things to different people, the distinctions between the terms are subjective, and which term is used in a relationship will ultimately be determined by personal preference.
• The use of girlfriend for a female non-romantic friend of another female is limited in geographic distribution and sometimes preferred by older generations of speakers.

Translations

a female partner in a romantic relationship

• Afrikaans: meisie (af)
• Albanian: shoqe (sq) f, dashnore (sq) f
• Arabic: صَدِيقَة f (ṣadīqa), صَاحِبَة f (ṣāḥiba)
• Armenian: ընկերուհի (hy) (ənkeruhi)
• Basque: neska-lagun (eu)
• Belarusian: каха́нка f (kaxánka), дзяўчы́на f (dzjaŭčýna), сябро́ўка f (sjabróŭka), прыя́целька f (pryjácjelʹka), падру́га f (padrúha)
• Bengali: বান্ধবী (bandhobi)
• Bulgarian: га́дже (bg) n (gádže) (boyfriend or girlfriend), прия́телка f (prijátelka)
• Burmese: ရည်းစား (my) (rany:ca:) (boyfriend or girlfriend)
• Catalan: nòvia (ca) f, xicota (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 女朋友 (neoi⁵ pang⁴ jau⁵)

  Hakka: 女朋友 (ńg-phèn-yû)

  Mandarin: 女朋友 (zh) (nǚpéngyoǔ), (boyfriend or girlfriend) 對象／对象 (zh) (duìxiàng), 对象 (zh) (duìxiàng)

  Min Nan: 女朋友 (zh-min-nan) (lú-pêng-iú)

• Czech: přítelkyně (cs) f, holka (cs) f
• Danish: kæreste (da)
• Dutch: vriendin (nl), meisje (nl) n
• Elfdalian: fjälla f
• Esperanto: koramikino
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Faroese: unnusta f, dama f
• Finnish: tyttöystävä (fi), naisystävä (fi), tyttökaveri
• French: amie (fr) f, petite amie (fr) f (dated, adolescents), copine (fr) f (young adults), petite copine (fr) f (dated, adolescents), blonde (fr) f (Quebec), nana (fr) f (adolescents), meuf (fr) f (adolescents), femme (fr) f (young adults), chérie (fr) f, compagne (fr) f (adults), partenaire (fr) f (adults)
• Galician: noiva f, moza f
• Georgian: შეყვარებული (šeq̇varebuli), მეგობარი გოგო (megobari gogo), მეგობარი გოგონა (megobari gogona), მეგობარი ქალი (megobari kali)
• German: (with possessive pronoun) Freundin (de) f, Girlfriend (de) f (colloquial, rare)
• Greek: κορίτσι (el) n (korítsi), κοπέλα (el) f (kopéla), φιλενάδα (el) f (filenáda)
• Greenlandic: arnaat
• Guaraní: kichiha
• Hebrew: חֲבֵרָה (he) f (khaverá), (formal) חברה לחיים (khavera laekhayim), (formal) בת-זוג לחיים (bat-zug lekhayim)
• Hindi: गर्लफ़्रेंड f (garlafreṇḍ)
• Hungarian: barátnő (hu), csaj (hu) (slang)
• Icelandic: kærasta (is) f
• Ido: amoratino
• Indonesian: pacar (id)
• Irish: cailín (ga) m, girseach f
• Italian: ragazza (it) f, fidanzata (it) f, donna (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 彼女 (ja) (かのじょ, kanojo), 意中の女 (いちゅうのおんな, ichū no onna), ガールフレンド (gārufurendo)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 여자친구 (yeojachin'gu), 걸프렌드 (geolpeurendeu), 애인 (ko) (aein) (boyfriend or girlfriend)
• Lao: ຜູ້ສາວ (phū sāo)
• Latin: amātrix, amīca, amīcula, amans (la)
• Latvian: draudzene
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Luxembourgish: Frëndin (lb) f
• Macedonian: девојка f (devojka), пријателка f (prijatelka)
• Malay: teman perempuan
• Marathi: मैत्रीण (maitrīṇ)
• Mongolian: найз охин (najz oxin)
• Northern Sami: moarsi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kjæreste (no) m

  Nynorsk: kjærast m, kjæraste m

• Persian: دوست‌دختر (fa) (dust-doxtar)
• Polish: dziewczyna (pl), sympatia (pl) f, przyjaciółka (pl) f
• Portuguese: namorada (pt) f
• Quechua: salla
• Romanian: prietenă (ro) f
• Romansch: marusa f
• Russian: подру́жка (ru) f (podrúžka), возлю́бленная (ru) f (vozljúblennaja), де́вушка (ru) f (dévuška), гёрлфре́нд (ru) f (gjorlfrɛ́nd), подру́га (ru) f (podrúga), прия́тельница (ru) f (prijátelʹnica)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: цура f, девојка f, дјевојка f, ђевојка f, пријатељица f

  Roman: cura (sh) f, devojka (sh) f, djevojka (sh) f, đevojka f, prijateljica (sh) f

• Sicilian: zita (scn) f, picciotta (scn) f, fimmina (scn) f
• Slovak: priateľka f
• Slovene: dekle (sl) n, punca (colloquial), prijateljica (sl) f
• Spanish: novia (es) f, polola (es) f
• Swahili: mpenzi (sw), chuma (sw) (slang)
• Swedish: flickvän (sv) c, tjej (sv) c (colloquial), kärasta c
• Tagalog: (literally) kasintahang babae f, nobya
• Telugu: ప్రియురాలు (te) (priyurālu)
• Thai: แฟนสาว (fɛɛn-sǎao), แฟน (th) (fɛɛn) (boyfriend or girlfriend)
• Tibetan: དགའ་རོགས (dga' rogs)
• Turkish: kız arkadaş
• Ukrainian: коха́на f (koxána), ді́вчина f (dívčyna), подру́га f (podrúha), прия́телька f (pryjátelʹka)
• Urdu: گرل فرینڈ f (garl freṇḍ)
• Vietnamese: bạn gái (vi), (also boyfriend; lover) người yêu (vi)
• Walloon: mayon (wa) f, crapåde (wa) f
• West Frisian: freondinne f, faam (fy) f, famke (fy) n

a female friend

• Arabic: صَدِيقَة f (ṣadīqa)
• Armenian: ընկերուհի (hy) (ənkeruhi)
• Belarusian: сябро́ўка f (sjabróŭka), прыя́целька f (pryjácjelʹka), падру́га f (padrúha)
• Bulgarian: прия́телка f (prijátelka)
• Catalan: amiga (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 女性朋友 (nǚxìng péngyǒu)

• Czech: přítelkyně (cs) f
• Danish: veninde (da)
• Dutch: vriendin (nl)
• Esperanto: amikino
• Faliscan: socia (socia)
• Finnish: ystävätär (fi), tyttökaveri
• French: une amie (fr) f (close friend; best friend: ma meilleure amie), une copine (fr) f (acquaintance, friend; rarely used by adult men; "ma meilleure copine" is used by children for "best friend")
• Galician: amiga f
• German: eine Freundin (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽𐌳𐌹 f (frijōndi)
• Hebrew: חֲבֵרָה (he) f (khaverá), ידידה f (yedida)
• Hindi: सहेली (hi) f (sahelī)
• Hungarian: barátnő (hu)
• Icelandic: vinkona (is) f
• Ido: amikino (io)
• Italian: amica (it) f, amica del cuore f
• Japanese: 女友達 (おんなともだち, onna tomodachi)
• Latin: amīca f
• Latvian: draudzene f
• Luxembourgish: Frëndin (lb) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: пријателка f (prijatelka)
• Malay: teman perempuan, kawan perempuan
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: venninne (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: veninne f, venninne f

• Persian: دوست‌دختر (fa) (dust-doxtar)
• Polish: przyjaciółka (pl) f
• Portuguese: amiga (pt) f
• Romanian: amică (ro) f
• Russian: подру́га (ru) f (podrúga), прия́тельница (ru) f (prijátelʹnica)
• Scottish Gaelic: banacharaid f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пријатељица f

  Roman: prijateljica (sh) f

• Sicilian: cummari f
• Slovak: priateľka f
• Slovene: prijateljica (sl) f
• Spanish: amiga (es) f
• Swahili: shoga (sw)
• Swedish: väninna (sv) c, tjejkompis (sv) c (colloquial)
• Tajik: дугона (tg) (dugona), рафиқа (rafiqa)
• Telugu: స్నేహితురాలు (te) (snēhiturālu)
• Thai: เพื่อนสาว
• Ukrainian: подру́га f (podrúha), прия́телька f (pryjátelʹka)
• Volapük: jiflen (vo)
• West Frisian: freondinne f

Derived terms

• girlfriend experience
• girlfriendhood
• girlfriendish
• girlfriendless
• girlfriendly
• girlfriendy

 

See also

(female partner in a romantic relationship):

• fiancée
• lover
• partner
• significant other
• sweetheart
• wife
• lady friend

(a female friend):

• buddy
• friend
• pal
• BFF

Anagrams

• friend girl, friendgirl