English

girl

/ˈɡɜːl/
A female child.

    Etymology graph

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    • borrowed
    • derived
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    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, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishgirle
      • inheritedOld English*gyrele
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*gurilā
          • partProto-West Germanic*gaurā “young child”
          • derivedProto-West Germanica
            • derivedOld Frencha “to; towards”
              • inheritedLatinad “towards”
              • derivedLatinad “towards”
          • partProto-West Germanic*-ilā

    Related: English gyaru (doublet), English gal/gyal (doublet), Yola gurl, German Gör, Low German Gör

    Sources