The final 女の子 / 女子 / 少女 / and all words for "girls" thread

Japanese Language
#9

Does 女性 have a colder, more scientific nuance to it like “female” does in English?

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#10

Great thread, thanks! :relaxed:

Started wondering about ギャル. Never heard of it (probably because I am an ignorant person), but is there any equivalent in English for this? Who uses this? Why? I know it may be an insult, but I’m just curious.

#11

In the sense of it as a の adjective, I’d say it seems just as normal as female as an adjective in English.

女性の教師
female teacher

And I don’t get the impression that it’s odd to say 女性 as a noun, the way it would be to say female, just by itself, in English.

女性がいた
there was a female

Yeah, sounds odd in English, but I don’t think it’s odd in Japanese.

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#12

Good to know, thanks!

#13

Agree. In my experience, my female Japanese friends default to 女性 a lot of times. I actually do too because then you don’t get into the mess of “should I call someone 20yo+ a girl” kinda of thing. They correct my Japanese every time and never had any correction with 女性. So I’d say it’s pretty safe.

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#14

Its basically the default because it doesn’t assume anything other than what it says.

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#15

Though one of the definitions is “woman.” So I still think it’s more normal to use it for adults, when it’s a noun.

When it’s a の adjective, that’s different.

3 Likes
#16

This is the great! I’ve bookmarked it.

#17

I think a good equivalent would be “girly girl” based on what I’ve read. Feel free to correct me or add something onto it.

Also here’s a good article from Tofugu: https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/gyaru-go/

#18

Oh wow, this is great and it saved either spending a while googling all this or posting here and looking like a dumbass!

Is there something similar but for the “woman” synonyms? Or other synonyms WK introduces for example?

So far it gets kinda confusing when there’s a couple vocab for “few” or “very”, as I wouldn’t know in what context to apply each vocab over the other.

#19

I might try to do others as well. But we get this question a few times a month, I’d say, so it was a priority.

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#20

Anki’d all of this. Many thanks for the great write-up :smiley:

#21

お嬢さん
お姉さん
both used in the context of addressing a girl of appropriate age whose name you don’t know.

But maybe these are different than the kinds of words you are trying to collect.

edit: politely* addressing

#22

I see how they could be ones people would have questions about in this sense.

#23

So, about ギャル - is the connotation merely that of ‘no interest in scholarly stuff, prefers drinking and partying’ or more like ‘is open to a romp in the sheets if you are’?

#24

The stereotype is they are not smart. The one I was suggesting there anyway. But that’s not the limit of the stereotypes.

#25

Thanks for clearing that up :blush: Adding that to the anki card. You rock!

#26

I noticed there is no 女の人 on this list? I just learned that on top of the many other woman and girl things and it is driving me bonkers. I have also seen 女人 on a restroom I went into. Any thoughts?

#27

This list was conceived as “things that can be translated as girl” and I wouldn’t really put 女の人 in that category.

#28

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