girlfriend

A girlfriend is a female partner in a non-marital romantic relationship.

Scope

The term is most commonly used to describe a girl or a young woman. An older woman in such a non-marital relationship is sometimes described instead as a significant other or partner, especially if the two partners are living together. At times, since "girlfriend" and "partner" mean different things to different people, the distinctions between the terms are subjective, and which term is used in a relationship will ultimately be determined by personal preference.

When used by a girl or woman in a non-sexual, non-romantic context, the term "girlfriend" usually denotes a close female friend. Sometimes, the phrase "girl friend" (with a space) is used to avoid confusion with the romantic meaning.

Word history

The word itself is relatively new, first found in print in 1892 according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.[1]

Synonyms

• Depending on the current informal speech styles in a given time and place, terms such as "[old] lady", "girl", and "chick" may be used in the same sense as "girlfriend". Frequently, these are preceded by a possessive pronoun or otherwise contextually marked for clarification, as such terms are more generic ways of referring to females and alone do not indicate a relationship of any sort.[2]
• A female engaged in an extramarital relationship with a married person is frequently considered a "girlfriend", especially in contrast to the married person's spouse.
• Additionally, general terms for such a companion (which do not indicate any sex or gender) can be substituted: "darling", "sweetheart", "lover", etc.
• Users of internet slang often shorten girlfriend to the acronym gf.[3]

See also

• Boyfriend
• Significant other
• Partner
• Courtship