From Middle English gerle, girle, gyrle, perhaps from Old English *gyrele, from Proto-West Germanic *gurilā, from a zero-grade diminutive of *gaurā + *-ilā.

• (RP) IPA: /ɡɜːɫ/, /ɡɛəl/, /ɡɪəl/
• (America) IPA: /ɡɝl/, /ɡɝ.əl/
• (New Zealand) IPA: /ɡɵːl/, [ɡʏw]

girl

1. A young female human, or sometimes a young female animal.
2. (sometimes, offensive, see usage note) A woman, especially a young and often attractive woman.
3. A female servant; a maid. (see usage notes)

   Synonyms: char, charlady, charwoman, maid, maiden, maidservant, womanservant

4. (card games, slang, uncommon) A queen (the playing card).
5. (colloquial) A term of endearment. (see usage notes)

   Synonyms: girlie, lass, lassie

   • 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, →OCLC ↗, section I, pages 5–6 ↗:

     'Now, girls,' continued Healey, 'you're very high-spirited and that's as it should be but I won't have you getting out of hand. […]' […] Setting a spatted foot on the bench that ran down the middle of the changing-room with elegant distain, Adrian began to flip through a pile of Y-fronts and rugger shorts with his cane.

6. One's girlfriend.
   • 1922, 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. One's daughter.

   Your girl turned up on our doorstep.

8. (UK, dialect, obsolete) A roebuck two years old.
9. (US, slang, uncountable) Cocaine, especially in powder form.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:cocaine

10. A female non-human animal, especially, in affectionate address, a female pet, especially a dog.

    Are you getting a boy cat or a girl cat?

11. (somewhat, childish) A female (tree, gene, etc).
    • 1950, Pageant:

      Are there “boy” trees and “girl” trees? Yes. A number of species, among them the yew, holly and date-bearing palm, have their male and female flowers on different trees. The male holly, for instance, must be planted fairly close to the female ...

    • 1970 [earlier 1963], Helen V. Wilson, Helen Van Pelt, Helen Van Pelt's African Violets, Dutton Adult (ISBN 9780801538582):

      Of the 100 percent total, 25 will have two girl genes, 50 will have one boy and one girl gene, and 25 will have two boy genes.

    • 1972, GSN Gesneriad Saintpaulia News: African Violets, Gloxinias, Other Gesneriads and Exotic Plants:

      When there are two "girl" genes the plant is a girl dwarf.

12. (informal) A machine or vehicle, especially one that the speaker uses often and is fond of.
    • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children's Books, →ISBN:

      “Quiet, everyone!” said Dad as he tried desperately to start the car. GRRR… GRRR… GRRR… Instead of shuddering into life, Queenie let out a low, grinding noise. “Oh no,” said Dad.
      “What?” asked the boy.
      “The engine must have flooded when she went upside down. The poor old girl won’t start again now for hours. We’re going to have to walk.”

• French: fille, jeune fille, fillette
• German: Mädchen, (regional) Mädel
• Italian: bambina (child), ragazza (adolescent)
• Portuguese: garota, menina (child), moça (youngster), rapariga (Portugal)
• Russian: де́вушка
• Spanish: niña child, muchacha teens or twenties, chica teens or twenties, (Chile) cabra, (Mexico) chamaca, (Spain, Chile, Argentina) lola, (Argentina) nena, (Chile) chiquilla

• French: femme, fille
• German: Frau
• Portuguese: mulher
• Russian: де́вушка
• Spanish: mujer

• French: servante
• Portuguese: criada
• Russian: служа́нка

girl (girls, present participle girling; simple past and past participle girled)

1. (transitive) To feminize or girlify; to gender as a girl or as for girls.
2. (somewhat, informal) To staff with or as a girl or girls.
   • 1949, The New Yorker:

     Making our way past a one-girl switchboard temporarily girled by two frantic operators, we found the victorious president, Elliott A. Bowles, barely visible behind a heap of telegrams [...]

   • 1961, The Georgia Review:

     Her first shock came when the ship on which she and her husband arrived was met by three boats “girled” by “great, splendid creatures, as tall as our millionaires' tallest daughters, and as strong-looking as any of our college-girl athletes,” ...

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