English

Proper noun

Girl

1. (astronomy) a Chinese constellation located near Aquarius, one of the 28 lunar mansions and part of the Black Turtle

German

Etymology

From English girl.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /gœʁl/, [gœɐ̯l]

Noun

Girl n ‎(genitive Girls or Girl, plural Girls)

1. girl; young woman; usually implying physical attractiveness, often in the context of show or entertainment

Declension

English

Alternative forms

• gal (colloquial)
• guhrl (nonstandard)
• gurl (nonstandard)
• grrrl, grrl (slang)

Noun

girl ‎(plural girls)

1. A young female human; specifically (in contrast to boy), a female child, teenager, or young adult; by extension, a young female animal
   • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 4, in The Celebrity:

     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 July 19, Mark Tran, “Denied an education by war”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 1:

     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.

   Amanda is a girl of 16.‎

2. Any woman, regardless of her age. (see usage notes)
3. A female servant; a maid. (see usage notes)
4. (uncommon) A queen (the playing card.)
5. (colloquial) A term of endearment. (see usage notes)
6. A girlfriend.
   • 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.

7. A daughter.

   Your girl turned up on our doorstep.‎

8. (Britain, dialect, obsolete) A roebuck two years old.
9. (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.

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:girl.

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 Wikisaurus:girl.
• (cocaine): see also Wikisaurus:cocaine.

Derived terms

Look at pages starting with girl.

Translations

References

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

See also

• miss

Statistics

Anagrams

• LIRG