Girl

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ɡɜːl/
• US IPA: /ɡɝl/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)l

Origin

From Middle English girle, gerle, gyrle ("young person of either sex"), of uncertain origin. Probably from Old English, from a diminutive form of Proto-Germanic *gurwijaz (compare Low German Gör, Göre ("child of either sex"), dialectal Norwegian gorre, dialectal Swedish garre, gurre ("small child")), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- ("short")

Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language, s.v. "girl" (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002).

(compare Old Irish gair ("short"), Ancient Greek χρεώ (chreō, "need, necessity"), χρήσθαι (chrēsthai, "to need"), Sanskrit ह्रस्व (hrasva, "short, small")).

Full definition of girl

Noun

1. A young female human; (in contrast to boy), a female child or young adult.
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 4, No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or.... And at last I began to realize in my harassed soul that all elusion was futile, and to take such holidays as I could get, when he was off with a girl, in a spirit of thankfulness.
• 2013-07-19, Mark Tran, Denied an education by war, One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools...as children, teachers or school buildings become the targets of attacks. Parents fear sending their children to school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence.
2. Amanda is a girl of 16.
3. Any woman, regardless of her age. see usage notes
4. A female servant; a maid. see usage notes
5. (figuratively, pejorative) A boy with girl-like qualities, especially squeamishness.
   Stop being such a girl and punch back.
6. (uncommon) A queen (the playing card.)
• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ISBN 978-1880069523
1. (colloquial) A term of endearment. see usage notes
2. A girlfriend.
   I'm going to meet my girl over there.
3. A daughter.
   Your girl turned up on our doorstep.
4. (UK, dialect, obsolete) A roebuck two years old.
5. (US, slang) Cocaine, especially in powder form.
• 1969, Iceberg Slim, Pimp: The Story of My Life, Cash Money Content (2011), ISBN 9781451617139, 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 (1987), ISBN 0870673661, 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.
• 2005, K'wan, Hoodlum, St. Martin's Press (2005), ISBN 0312333080, page 185:After about an hour or two of half-ass sex and snorting girl, Honey was zoned out. She flexed her still numb fingers, trying to find a warmth that didn't seem to come. Cocaine always made her numb.

Usage notes

(any woman, regardless of her age) Calling a 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).

Synonyms

• (young female human) see also .
• (cocaine) see also .

Derived terms

Anagrams

• LIRG