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Antonyms for girls
| Grammar : Noun |
| Spell : gurl |
| Phonetic Transcription : gɜrl |
Definition of girls
Origin :- c.1300, gyrle "child" (of either sex), of unknown origin; current scholarship [OED says] leans toward an unrecorded Old English *gyrele, from Proto-Germanic *gurwilon-, diminutive of *gurwjoz (apparently also represented by Low German gære "boy, girl," Norwegian dialectal gorre, Swedish dialectal gurre "small child," though the exact relationship, if any, between all these is obscure), from PIE *ghwrgh-, also found in Greek parthenos "virgin." But this is highly conjectural. And Liberman (2008) writes:
- Girl does not go back to any Old English or Old Germanic form. It is part of a large group of Germanic words whose root begins with a g or k and ends in r. The final consonant in girl is a diminutive suffix. The g-r words denote young animals, children, and all kinds of creatures considered immature, worthless, or past their prime.
- Another candidate is Old English gierela "garment" (for possible sense evolution in this theory, cf. brat). Like boy, lass, lad it is of obscure origin. "Probably most of them arose as jocular transferred uses of words that had originally different meaning" [OED]. Specific meaning of "female child" is late 14c. Applied to "any young unmarried woman" since mid-15c. Meaning "sweetheart" is from 1640s. Girl next door as a type of unflashy attractiveness is recorded by 1953.
- Doris [Day] was a big vocalist even before she hit the movies in 1948. There, as the latest movie colony "girl next door," sunny-faced Doris soon became a leading movie attraction as well as the world's top female recording star. "She's the girl next door, all right," said one Hollywood admirer. "Next door to the bank." ["Life" magazine, Dec. 22, 1958]
- Girl Friday is from 1940, a reference to "Robinson Crusoe."
- noun young female person
- The girls I know are taught painstakingly how to get a husband, but nothing of how to be a wife.
- Extract from : « The Spenders » by Harry Leon Wilson
- She was soon missed, and all the girls in the house were set to looking for Catherine.
- Extract from : « Harriet, The Moses of Her People » by Sarah H. Bradford
- This process is performed by girls, with the aid of what is called a “bob” or “glazer.”
- Extract from : « The Story of the Invention of Steel Pens » by Henry Bore
- "And old Lambert," said one of the other girls, delightedly.
- Extract from : « Malbone » by Thomas Wentworth Higginson
- I suppose there are a number of girls here, although it's early.
- Extract from : « Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton Campus » by Jessie Graham Flower
- Other girls marry persons whom they do not love, and it helps them to forget.
- Extract from : « Malbone » by Thomas Wentworth Higginson
- The girls can talk quietly and confidentially, if they choose.
- Extract from : « Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton Campus » by Jessie Graham Flower
- She is so capable and the girls not only like her but respect her as well.
- Extract from : « Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton Campus » by Jessie Graham Flower
- Girls, do you remember the dinner we gave here after the ghost party?
- Extract from : « Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton Campus » by Jessie Graham Flower
- Harlowe House will hold, comfortably, thirty-two girls and no more.
- Extract from : « Grace Harlowe's Return to Overton Campus » by Jessie Graham Flower
Synonyms for girls
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019