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Added 9 October 2026

girl

/ˈɡɜːl/ noun

In Latin: puella Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about girl at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A young female.
a young lady of 18
A youthful female person.
the baby was a girl
A female human offspring.
her daughter cared for her in her old age

Origin

From Middle English gerle, girle, gyrle (“young person (boy or girl)”), perhaps from Old English *gyrele, from Proto-West Germanic *gurilā, from a zero-grade diminutive of *gaurā (“young child”) + *-ilā. Ultimately of unknown origin. Doublet of gal/gyal and gyaru. Cognates Cognate with Yola gurl (“child, girl”), German Gör, Göre (“brat, cheeky young child”), Low German Gör (“child”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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