Dictionary

girlish en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡɜː.lɪʃ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio
• /ˈɡɝ.lɪʃ/ (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree English girl Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Proto-Germanic *-iskaz Proto-West Germanic *-isk Old English -isċ Middle English -isch English -ish English girlish From girl + -ish.

Meanings

1. Like (that of) a girl; feminine.
   • Three little maids from school are we, / Pert as a school-girl well can be, / Filled to the brim with girlish glee, / Three little maids from school! 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC, Act 1:
   • April, April, / Laugh thy girlish laughter; / Then, the moment after, / Weep thy girlish tears! 1898, William Watson, “Song”, in The Hope of the World and Other Poems, London: John Lane, page 41:
   • She saw her own face, glowing with girlish beauty, and illuminating all the interior of the dusky mirror in which she had been wont to gaze at it. 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 2, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:
2. (archaic) Of or relating to girlhood.
   • 1602, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall, London: E. Law, 1769, pp. 119-20, http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/9878/pg9878-images.html This village was the birth-place of Thomasine Bonauenture, I know not, whether by descent, or euent, so called: for whiles in her girlish age she kept sheepe on the foreremembered moore, it chanced that a London merchant passing by, saw her […] .

Forms

Deriveds

girlishness · little-girlish · girlishly · ungirlish

Relateds

boyish · schoolgirlish · womanish

Translations (43)

nb pikeaktig (like a girl) · ar بَنَاتِيّ (like a girl) · ka ქალიშვილური (like a girl) · nl meisjesachtig (like a girl) · ka გოგოსებური (like a girl) · lv meitenīgs (like a girl) · eo knabina (like a girl) · sl dekliški (like a girl) · sh дјѐвојачки (like a girl) · es de niña (like a girl) · fr de fille (like a girl) · sh дѐвојачки (like a girl) · de Mädchen- (like a girl) · uk дівча́чий (like a girl) · nb jenteaktig (like a girl) · be дзяво́чы (like a girl) · sk dievčenský (like a girl) · pt feminino (like a girl) · fr de petite fille (like a girl) · ko 소녀답다 (like a girl) · cs dívčí (like a girl) · mk момински (like a girl) · de mädchenhaft (like a girl) · mi tamahine (like a girl) · grc κορασιώδης (like a girl) · sh djèvojački (like a girl) · fr de jeune fille (like a girl) · fi tyttömäinen (like a girl) · bg моми́чешки (like a girl) · yi מיידליש (like a girl) · nb jentete (like a girl) · cmn 少女的 (like a girl) · la puellāris (like a girl) · uk діво́чий (like a girl) · el κοριτσίστικος (like a girl) · be дзяво́цкі (like a girl) · uk діво́цький (like a girl) · hu lányos (like a girl) · ja 女の子らしい (like a girl) · tr kızsı (like a girl) · pl dziewczęcy (like a girl) · ru деви́чий (like a girl) · sh dèvojački (like a girl)