Synonyms

girlish

American

[gur-lish] / ˈgɜr lɪʃ /

adjective

of, like, or befitting a girl or girlhood.

girlish laughter.

girlish British

/ ˈɡɜːlɪʃ /

adjective

of or like a girl in looks, behaviour, innocence, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of girlish

First recorded in 1555–65; girl + -ish ¹

Vocabulary lists containing girlish

Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -ish

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

girlish

She does succeed in bringing an oddly girlish quality to her performance, but it grows monotonous.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Hello Kitty launched as the Japanese 'kawaii' culture — a hyperfeminine, girlish aesthetic — gained popularity across the world.

From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026

She could be sweet, evil, overbearing, put-upon, thoughtful, impulsive, girlish, vulnerable or manipulative and superimpose selected qualities for extra complexity, always with a compressed energy, obvious or veiled.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 30, 2024

Often, Bannon will toss the mic, virtually, to his 23-year-old co-host Natalie Winters, a blond Californian who has a side business selling a girlish right-wing clothing line.

From Slate ● Nov. 25, 2024

But all Patria saw were pretty notebooks written in a girlish hand.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023