A girl is any female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood. The term may also be used to mean a young woman.
Usage for adults
The word girl is sometimes used to refer to an adult female. This usage may be considered derogatory or disrespectful in professional or other formal contexts, just as the term boy can be considered disparaging when applied to an adult man. Hence, this usage is often depreciative.]
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A girl is any female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood. The term may also be used to mean a young woman.
Usage for adults
The word girl is sometimes used to refer to an adult female. This usage may be considered derogatory or disrespectful in professional or other formal contexts, just as the term boy can be considered disparaging when applied to an adult man. Hence, this usage is often depreciative.] It can also be used depreciatively when used to discriminate against children ("you're just a girl").
In casual context, the word has positive uses, as evidenced by its use in titles of popular music. It has been used playfully for people acting in an energetic fashion (Furtado's "Promiscuous Girl") or as a way of unifying women of all ages on the basis of their once having been girls (McBride's "This One's for the Girls"). In both cases, these positive uses are when the word is used for its capacity to collectively refer to the girls' gender rather than to their age.
