different between youthful vs girlish

English

Etymology

From youth +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ju??f?l/
• Hyphenation: youth?ful

Adjective

youthful (comparative more youthful, superlative most youthful)

1. Young or seeming young.

   Synonyms: lively, sprightly, spry, young; see also Thesaurus:young, Thesaurus:active
2. Characteristic of young people.

Derived terms

Translations

English

Etymology

girl +? -ish

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /???l??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /????l??/
• Rhymes: -??(?)l??

Adjective

girlish (comparative more girlish, superlative most girlish)

1. Like (that of) a girl; feminine.
   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Chapter 2, [1]

     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.

   • 1885, W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado, Act I, [2]

     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!

   • 1898, William Watson, "Song" in The Hope of the World and Other Poems, London: John Lane, p. 41, [3]

     April, April, / Laugh thy girlish laughter; / Then, the moment after, / Weep thy girlish tears!

2. (archaic) Of or relating to girlhood.
   • 1602, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall, London: E. Law, 1769, pp. 119-20, [4]

     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 […] .

Derived terms

• girlishly
• girlishness
• ungirlish

Translations

See also

• schoolgirlish

See also

• boyish
• womanish