lass

See also: laß and lȧss

English

Etymology

From Middle English lasse, from Old Norse laskura (“an unmarried woman, maiden”). Cognate with Scots lassie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /læs/
• Rhymes: -æs

Noun

lass (plural lasses)

1. (archaic in some dialects, informal) A young woman or girl.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:girl

   Coordinate term: lad

   Come and dance, ye lads and lasses!

2. (Geordie, Mackem) A sweetheart.

Usage notes

Still prevalent in Scottish English, Irish English, and Northern English dialects such as Geordie (Tyneside), Mackem (Wearside), County Durham, Northumberland, Teesside and Yorkshire. Sometimes used poetically in other dialects of English.

Derived terms

• buffer lass
• hallelujah lass
• lasslorn

Related terms

• lad
• lassie

Translations

a young woman or girl

• Breton: merc'h (br), plac'h (br)
• Bulgarian: мома (bg) f (moma), девойка (bg) f (devojka)
• Czech: dívka (cs) f, děvenka f, děvče (cs) n
• Danish: tøs c
• Esperanto: junulino
• Finnish: tyttö (fi)
• French: demoiselle (fr) f, fille (fr) f, jeune fille (fr) f (child), fillette (fr) f (child), jeune femme (fr) f
• German: Mädchen (de) n, Jungfrau (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: κοράσιον n (korásion)

• Hebrew: ילדה f (child), נערה (he) f (teenage), בחורה f, עלמה f
• Irish: cailín (ga) m, maighdean f, gearrchaile m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 아가씨 (ko) (agassi)
• Macedonian: моме n (mome), девојче n (devojče)
• Occitan: tosa f, joventa f
• Persian: لاکو (fa) (lâku)
• Portuguese: menina (pt), garota (pt), senhorita (pt), rapariga (pt)
• Russian: де́вушка (ru) f (dévuška), (child) де́вочка (ru) f (dévočka)
• Scottish Gaelic: (child) caileag (gd), nighean (gd), (child) nighneag (gd), gruagach (gd), rìbhinn (gd)
• Spanish: chica (es), chiquita (es), (child) niña (es), muchacha (es), señorita (es)
• Tagalog: ining, nene (tl), neneng
• Welsh: geneth (cy) (child), merch (cy), rhiain

sweetheart — see sweetheart

References

• A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, →ISBN
• “lass”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “lass”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [1]
• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, →ISBN
• A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896, [2]

Anagrams

• SASL, sals

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /las/
• Rhymes: -as

Verb

lass

1. (deprecated template usage) Imperative singular of lassen.
2. (colloquial) (deprecated template usage) First-person singular present of lassen.

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Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Old High German *los, variant of lōs (“loose; free; lacking; sly, deceitful”). Compare for the short vowel Ripuarian Central Franconian loss, Dutch los. The uninflected stem of this adjective develops regularly into Luxembourgish lass, while the inflected stem yields the doublet lues (“slow, quiet”). See the English cognate loose for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑs/

  Rhymes: -ɑs

Adjective

lass (masculine lassen, neuter lasst, comparative méi lass, superlative am lassten)

1. loose, unattached

Declension

declension of lass

number and gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		hien ass lass	si ass lass	et ass lass	si si(nn) lass
nominative / accusative	attributive and/or after determiner	lassen	lass	lasst	lass
	independent without determiner			lasses	lasser
dative	after any declined word	lassen	lasser	lassen	lassen
	as first declined word	lassem		lassem

Derived terms

• lassgoen
• lassloossen