different between guys vs girl

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: g?z, IPA^(key): /?a?z/
• Homophone: guise
• Rhymes: -a?z

Noun

guys

1. plural of guy
2. (colloquial) Used to address a group of people regardless of gender.

Verb

guys

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of guy

Anagrams

• yugs

English

Alternative forms

• girle, gyrle (obsolete)
• gal (colloquial)
• guhrl, gurl (nonstandard)
• grrrl, grrl (slang)

Etymology

From Middle English gerle, girle, gyrle (“young person of any gender”), of uncertain origin. Probably from Old English *gyrle, *gyrele, from Proto-Germanic *gurwilaz, a diminutive form of Proto-Germanic *gurwijaz (compare North Frisian gör (“girl”), Low German Gör, Göre (“child of any gender”), German Göre (“young child”), dialectal Norwegian gorre, dialectal Swedish garre, gurre (“small child”)), from Proto-Indo-European *??er- (“short”) (compare Old Irish gair (“short”), Ancient Greek ???? (khre?, “need, necessity”), ??????? (khr?sthai, “to need”), Sanskrit ?????? (hrasva, “short, small”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???l/, (obsolete) /???l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??l/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /???l/, [??w]
• Rhymes: -??(?)l
• Homophone: Guirl

Noun

girl (countable and uncountable, plural girls)

1. A female child, adolescent, or a young woman.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:girl

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:boy

   • 2006, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness, volume 3 of Scott Pilgrim

     Scott: Hey, it's our 8-month anniversary.

     Envy: Really? I can't even believe you remember that stuff!

     Scott: Whoa, wait a second... Am I the girl in this relationship?

     Envy: You totally are!
2. A young female animal.
3. (sometimes offensive) A woman, especially a young and often attractive woman.
4. A female servant; a maid. (see usage notes)

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

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

   Synonyms: girlie, lass, lassie

   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, pp. 8–9:

     '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 the pile of Y-fronts and rugger shorts with his cane.

7. One's girlfriend.
   • 1922, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Girl from Hollywood

     There isn't any guy going to steal my girl!
8. One's daughter.

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

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cocaine

    • 1969, Iceberg Slim, Pimp: The Story of My Life, Cash Money Content (2011), ?ISBN, page 43:

      She had taught me to snort girl, and almost always when I came to her pad, there would be thin sparkling rows of crystal cocaine on the glass top of the cocktail table.

    • 1977, Odie Hawkins, Chicago Hustle, Holloway House (1987), ?ISBN, page 175:

      Elijah nodded congenially to the early evening regulars in the Afro Lounge, headed straight for the telephone hung midway between the mens and womens, his nose smarting from a couple thick lines of recently snorted girl.

    • 2005, K'wan, Hoodlum, St. Martin's Press (2005), ?ISBN, page 185:

      After about an hour or two of half-ass sex and snorting girl, Honey was zoned out. […] She flexed her still numb fingers, trying to find a warmth that didn't seem to come. Cocaine always made her numb.

    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:girl.
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):

      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. (derogatory) A boy or man who is weak or sentimental.

    Synonyms: Jessie, sissy, wimp

    Don't be such a girl!

Usage notes

• (any woman, regardless of her age): An adult calling a grown woman a "girl" may be considered either a compliment or an insult, depending on context and sensibilities. In some cases, the term is used as a euphemism for virgin, to distinguish a female who has never engaged in sexual intercourse (a "girl") from one who has done so (and is a woman). Even if the word "girl" in most cases is not meant to be derogatory, it may still be patronising sometimes, especially when used to address someone older than oneself.
• (term of endearment): When used as a term of endearment, it can be used for someone female or, in some contexts, for someone male, such as the use within the gay community.

Derived terms

Pages starting with “girl”.

Descendants

• ? Hungarian: görl
• ? Japanese: ??? (g?ru)

Translations

References

Verb

girl (third-person singular simple present 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,” ...

   • 1986, Marcus Cunliffe, The Literature of the United States, New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Penguin Books (?ISBN):

     She and her Altrurian diplomat husband, arriving there by sea, are greeted by flower-laden boats, each not manned, but girled by six rowers, who pulled as true a stroke as I ever saw.

   • 2009, Linda Howard, Night Moves: Dream Man/After the Night, Simon and Schuster (?ISBN), page 220:

     To her disappointment, the chatty Carlene DuBois wasn't behind the desk; instead it was manned—or girled—by a frothy little blonde who barely looked old enough to be out of high school.

See also

• miss

Anagrams

• LIRG, gril

French

Noun

girl f (plural girls)

1. dancing girl