A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term girl has other meanings, including young woman, [1] daughter [2] or girlfriend [1] regardless of age, the first meaning is the most common one.
Girl does not go back to any Old English or Old Germanic form. It is part of a large group of Germanic words whose root begins with a g or k and ends in r. The final consonant in girl is a diminutive suffix. The g-r words denote young animals, children, and all kinds of creatures considered immature, worthless, or past their prime.