Girl in Different Languages
Discover 'Girl' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Girl
Afrikaans meisie | ||
Albanian vajze | ||
Amharic ሴት ልጅ | ||
Arabic فتاة | ||
Armenian աղջիկ | ||
Assamese ছোৱালী | ||
Aymara imilla | ||
Azerbaijani qız | ||
Bambara npogotigi | ||
Basque neska | ||
Belarusian дзяўчынка | ||
Bengali মেয়ে | ||
Bhojpuri लइकी | ||
Bosnian devojko | ||
Bulgarian момиче | ||
Catalan noia | ||
Cebuano babaye | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 女孩 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 女孩 | ||
Corsican zitella | ||
Croatian djevojka | ||
Czech dívka | ||
Danish pige | ||
Dhivehi އަންހެން ކުއްޖާ | ||
Dogri कुड़ी | ||
Dutch meisje | ||
English girl | ||
Esperanto knabino | ||
Estonian tüdruk | ||
Ewe nyᴐnuvi | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) babae | ||
Finnish tyttö | ||
French fille | ||
Frisian famke | ||
Galician rapaza | ||
Georgian გოგო | ||
German mädchen | ||
Greek κορίτσι | ||
Guarani mitãkuña | ||
Gujarati છોકરી | ||
Haitian Creole tifi | ||
Hausa yarinya | ||
Hawaiian kaikamahine | ||
Hebrew נערה | ||
Hindi लड़की | ||
Hmong ntxhais | ||
Hungarian lány | ||
Icelandic stelpa | ||
Igbo nwa nwanyi | ||
Ilocano ubing a babai | ||
Indonesian gadis | ||
Irish cailín | ||
Italian ragazza | ||
Japanese 女の子 | ||
Javanese cah wadon | ||
Kannada ಹುಡುಗಿ | ||
Kazakh қыз | ||
Khmer ក្មេងស្រី | ||
Kinyarwanda umukobwa | ||
Konkani चली | ||
Korean 소녀 | ||
Krio gal | ||
Kurdish keç | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) کچ | ||
Kyrgyz кыз | ||
Lao ສາວ | ||
Latin puella | ||
Latvian meitene | ||
Lingala mwana-mwasi | ||
Lithuanian mergina | ||
Luganda omuwala | ||
Luxembourgish meedchen | ||
Macedonian девојче | ||
Maithili कन्या | ||
Malagasy ankizivavy | ||
Malay gadis | ||
Malayalam പെൺകുട്ടി | ||
Maltese tifla | ||
Maori kotiro | ||
Marathi मुलगी | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯅꯨꯄꯤꯃꯆꯥ | ||
Mizo hmeichhe naupang | ||
Mongolian охин | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) မိန်းကလေး | ||
Nepali केटी | ||
Norwegian pike | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) mtsikana | ||
Odia (Oriya) girl ିଅ | ||
Oromo dubara | ||
Pashto انجلۍ | ||
Persian دختر | ||
Polish dziewczyna | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) menina | ||
Punjabi ਕੁੜੀ | ||
Quechua sipas | ||
Romanian fată | ||
Russian девушка | ||
Samoan teine | ||
Sanskrit बालिका | ||
Scots Gaelic nighean | ||
Sepedi mosetsana | ||
Serbian девојко | ||
Sesotho ngoanana | ||
Shona musikana | ||
Sindhi ڇوڪري | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) කෙල්ල | ||
Slovak dievča | ||
Slovenian dekle | ||
Somali gabadh | ||
Spanish niña | ||
Sundanese budak awéwé | ||
Swahili msichana | ||
Swedish flicka | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) babae | ||
Tajik духтар | ||
Tamil பெண் | ||
Tatar кыз | ||
Telugu అమ్మాయి | ||
Thai สาว | ||
Tigrinya ጓል | ||
Tsonga nhwana | ||
Turkish kız | ||
Turkmen gyz | ||
Twi (Akan) abaayewa | ||
Ukrainian дівчина | ||
Urdu لڑکی | ||
Uyghur قىز | ||
Uzbek qiz | ||
Vietnamese con gái | ||
Welsh merch | ||
Xhosa intombazana | ||
Yiddish מיידל | ||
Yoruba omoge | ||
Zulu intombazane |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | The word "meisie" is thought to come from the Dutch word "meisje" or the French word "maîtresse" meaning "mistress". |
| Albanian | Albanian "vajze," meaning "girl," also means "son of a hero" in Serbian. |
| Arabic | The word "فتاة" can also refer to a young woman or even a female servant. |
| Armenian | The word աղջիկ also means "young" or "maiden" in Armenian and can be used to address young women or servants. |
| Azerbaijani | "Qız" also means "red" in Azerbaijani, originating from the Proto-Turkic word *kızıl meaning "red, reddish; girl; maiden, lass." Similar words are found in other Turkic languages. |
| Basque | The word neska has been associated with the concept of femininity since at least the 16th century. |
| Belarusian | The Belarusian word "дзяўчынка" is cognate with the Russian word "девочка" and the Polish word "dziewczynka", both meaning "girl". |
| Bengali | The word "মেয়ে" in Bengali can also be used to refer to a daughter or a young woman. |
| Bosnian | The word 'devojko' originates from the Proto-Slavic word 'děvojka' |
| Bulgarian | The word "момиче" also means "young woman" and is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "*mъmdi" meaning "young woman". |
| Catalan | In Catalan, the word 'noia' also refers to a 'young woman' or 'maiden'. |
| Cebuano | The term "babaye" in Cebuano can also be used to refer to a woman or female person. |
| Chinese (Simplified) | In addition to meaning "girl," the character "女" in "女孩" can also mean "woman" or "female." |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 女孩 means a "young lady" in archaic Chinese, and it originally had a neutral connotation for both young men and women before being limited to female usage |
| Corsican | The word "zitella" can also mean "young woman" or "maiden" in Corsican. |
| Croatian | The word "djevojka" has its etymological roots in the Proto-Slavic word "дѣва", meaning "virgin", and is often used to refer to a young, unmarried woman. |
| Czech | The word dívka comes from the Old Czech word *děvka* which meant "young woman" or "maid". It is cognate with the Russian word *девка* which has the same meaning. |
| Danish | The word 'pige' is derived from the Old Norse word 'pika', meaning 'small female child'. |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "meisje" ultimately derives from the Indo-European root "*megʰ-" meaning "young, small," also found in English "maid" and "maiden." |
| Esperanto | Esperanto knabino 'girl' is derived from knabo 'boy,' but is not a diminutive, it is its feminine counterpart. |
| Estonian | The word "tüdruk" is derived from the Proto-Finnic word "*tyttö", which also means "girl" in Finnish. |
| Finnish | The Finnish word "tyttö" may derive from the Proto-Finnic "*tyttü", meaning "young animal" or "calf". |
| French | The word "fille" is also used in French to refer to a thread or wire used in sewing or embroidery. |
| Frisian | In 1937, the Dutch name Famke was listed as a popular name of Frisian origin, meaning "beautiful child". |
| Galician | The word 'rapaza' in Galician is derived from the Latin 'rapacia' which also refers to a 'female raptor, bird of prey or plunderer'. |
| Georgian | "გოგო" has several alternate meanings including "daughter, "female," "girlhood," and "mistress." |
| German | The word "Mädchen" is derived from the diminutive form of the Middle High German word "maget", meaning "young woman" or "bride". |
| Greek | The word "κορίτσι" originates from the medieval Greek word "κοράσιον", meaning "maiden" or "young woman". |
| Gujarati | "છોકરી" (girl) is a combination of two words, "છો" ("to be born") and "કરી" ("one born"). It can also refer to a young, unmarried woman. |
| Haitian Creole | The word "tifi" can also refer to a young woman or a female child. |
| Hausa | The Hausa word "Yarinyar " means "Young girl " in English and can also refer to a daughter or a female child. |
| Hawaiian | In old Hawaiian, kaikamahine meant "child-of-a-female," and could refer to either a boy or a girl. |
| Hebrew | The word "נערה" (girl) in Hebrew is etymologically related to the word "נורה" (light), suggesting the association between young women and the concept of radiance and illumination. |
| Hindi | The term "लड़की" (ladki) originally meant "playful" or "young" in Sanskrit. |
| Hmong | The Hmong word “ntxhais” meaning “girl” is related to the words for “flower” and “young”. |
| Hungarian | The word "lány" in Hungarian also means "field" or "daughter" in Old Hungarian. |
| Icelandic | The word "stelpa" is derived from the Old Norse word "stelpa", meaning "female foal". |
| Igbo | Igbo term for "maiden" that shares its root with the phrase "what is owned". |
| Indonesian | The word "gadis" in Indonesian shares an origin with the word "gadis" in Malay and Minangkabau, meaning "virgin". |
| Italian | The Italian word "ragazza" derives from the Latin word "ragadia" meaning "young girl". |
| Japanese | Though its kanji literally translates to "female + child" (女の子), it can be used as a term of affection toward young women regardless of their marital or maternal status. |
| Javanese | "Cah wadon" is also used to refer to a daughter or sister in Javanese family structures. |
| Kannada | The word "ಹುಡುಗಿ" (girl) is derived from the Proto-Dravidian root *huc, meaning "to grow". |
| Kazakh | The word "қызы" could also mean "a female child" or "a young woman". |
| Korean | The word "소녀" (sonyeo) can also refer to a "maiden" or "young woman" in Korean. |
| Kurdish | The Kurdish word "keç" originally referred to young women who were not yet married, and later came to mean "girl" in general. |
| Kyrgyz | In Kyrgyz, the word "кыз" can also refer to a young unmarried woman or a daughter. |
| Lao | The word "ສາວ" in Lao can also refer to a young unmarried woman or a female servant. |
| Latvian | The word "meitene" in Latvian can also mean "maid" or "lass". |
| Lithuanian | The word "mergina" is most likely derived from Indo-European root *merg-, meaning "to rub", "to knead", or "to grind" |
| Luxembourgish | "Meedchen" is cognate with German "Mädchen" and means "child", "servant" or "daughter" besides its current meaning of "girl". |
| Macedonian | The word "девојче" (girl) is derived from the Slavic root "dev", meaning "young woman". |
| Malagasy | The word "ankizivavy" in Malagasy can also mean "a young unmarried woman" or "a virgin." |
| Malay | "Gadis" also means "maid" or "virgin" in Indonesian. |
| Malayalam | The Malayalam word "പെൺകുട്ടി" literally means "little lady," indicating respect for young women in Kerala culture. |
| Maltese | The word 'tifla' has an alternate meaning of 'butterfly' and is thought to be derived from the Arabic word 'farasha'. |
| Maori | "Kotiro" also means "the first fruits of the harvest" in old Maori, and the first-born of any litter or nest of baby animals. |
| Marathi | The Marathi word "मुली" (girl) is derived from the Sanskrit word "मूलिका" (root), signifying the girl's role in the family as the "root" or foundation. |
| Mongolian | "Oхин" (girl) is a word of Turkic origin, and is related to the words "oglan" (boy) and "oğul" (son) in Turkish. |
| Nepali | The word 'केटी' has been said to derive from 'कन्या' meaning 'young unmarried woman' or 'कुतुम्बिनी' meaning 'family-oriented' or 'किम्ता' meaning 'price' (for a bride in marriage). |
| Norwegian | In Norwegian, "pike" can also refer to a weapon or a type of fish. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "mtsikana" can also refer to a young woman or a small girl. |
| Pashto | The word "انجلۍ" in Pashto is derived from the Persian word "دختران" meaning "daughters" and is also used to refer to young women or unmarried women. |
| Persian | In Persian, the word "دختر" can also refer to a young woman or a daughter. |
| Polish | The Polish word 'dziewczyna' is derived from an Old Slavic root meaning 'to strive' and can also refer to a 'maiden' or 'virgin'. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word "menina" can also refer to a young woman who is unmarried or a virgin. |
| Punjabi | The word 'ਕੁੜੀ' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'कन्या' ('kanya'), meaning 'young woman' or 'daughter'. |
| Romanian | Romanian "fată" comes from Latin "fata," meaning "goddess," "prophetess," or "fairy." |
| Russian | The Russian word "девушка" (girl) can also refer to a young unmarried woman. |
| Samoan | In Samoan mythology, Teine was the first woman created and the mother of mankind. |
| Scots Gaelic | The word "nighean" also means "daughter" or "maiden" in Scots Gaelic. |
| Serbian | The word "девојко" is the vocative form of the noun "девојка" (girl), and can also be used as a term of endearment |
| Sesotho | "Ngoanana" also means "girl" in Xhosa, and "my love" in Setswana. |
| Shona | "Musikana" also denotes a young female goat |
| Sindhi | The Sindhi word "ڇوڪري" is derived from the Sanskrit word "छोळ", meaning "a young woman". |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | The Sinhala word "කෙල්ල" (kella), meaning "girl," also has the secondary meaning of "unripe coconut" in literary contexts. |
| Slovak | The word "dievča" is derived from Proto-Slavic *devьka, which originally meant "maiden" or "young woman". |
| Slovenian | The word "dekle" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "*děvka", which originally meant "servant" or "maid". It is cognate with the Russian word "девка" (devka), which also means "girl" or "servant". |
| Somali | The word "gabadh" is derived from the Cushitic root "*gabad-, *gabad-," meaning "female," and is cognate with the Afar word "gudo" and the Beja word "gobad." |
| Spanish | "Niña" also means 'pupil' in Spanish, and is related to "niño" ('boy') and "nieto" ('grandchild'). |
| Sundanese | The Sundanese word "budak awéwé" also refers to young women who have yet to marry. |
| Swahili | The word 'msichana', meaning girl in Swahili, originated from the Arabic 'sakhina', which refers to a young woman or a female child. |
| Swedish | Flicka also has a connotation with horses and ponies in Swedish. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog word "babae" also means "woman" or "female" and is derived from the Proto-Austronesian word "*babai". |
| Tajik | The word "духтар" can also mean "daughter" or "female child" in Tajik. |
| Tamil | In Sanskrit, the word "pena" means "wife" or "beloved," and is likely the origin of the Tamil word "பெண்" (peṇ). |
| Telugu | "అమ్మాయి" in Telugu originated from the Sanskrit word "अम्बा" or "अम्बिका", meaning "mother". It signifies the potential motherhood of a young woman. |
| Thai | สาว (sao) also means 'young, fresh, unripe' and is related to words like 'morning' ('เช้า', 'chao') and 'raw' ('ดิบ', 'dib'). |
| Turkish | The word "kız" also denotes the female of animals in Turkish. |
| Ukrainian | "Дівчина" means both "girl" and "maiden," referring to an unmarried woman who has reached maturity." |
| Uzbek | The term "qiz" in Uzbek holds a semantic duality, also denoting the concept of "red" in its original Persian etymology. |
| Vietnamese | "Con gái" literally means "the daughter of" in Vietnamese. |
| Welsh | The word merch may also refer to an unmarried woman or to a young woman of light or improper conduct |
| Xhosa | The word "intombazana" also means "a young woman who has not yet reached childbearing age". |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word for "girl", "מיידל" (meydl), is a diminutive of the German word "Magd" (maid). |
| Yoruba | The Yoruba word “omoge” (girl) also has a historical meaning, “child who was born in an unfavorable period” and could be used to refer to the youngest child of an elderly woman. |
| Zulu | The word 'intombazane' can also mean 'young woman' or 'maiden'. |
| English | The word "girl" is derived from the Middle English word "girle," which in turn comes from the Old English word "georl," meaning "young woman" |