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"Girl" in 10 Languages: From Niña to Shōjo

How to say "girl" across languages — with pronunciation guides:

Cultural Nuances

  • Age boundaries vary: "girl" vs. "young woman" thresholds differ
  • Politeness levels: Japanese/Korean have honorifics
  • Grammatical gender: German neuter for "girl" (diminutive rule); Romance feminine
  • Script: Chinese/Japanese share characters (女 = female); Korean Hangul unique

Language reflects culture — "girl" is never just a word.

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    LanguageWordPronunciationNotes
    EnglishGirl/ɡɜːrl/Generic
    SpanishNiña/ˈniɲa/Tilde = "ny" sound; "chica" also common
    FrenchFille/fij/"ll" = /j/; "jeune fille" = young girl
    GermanMädchen/ˈmɛːtçən/Diminutive (-chen); neuter gender (das Mädchen)
    ItalianRagazza/raˈɡattsa/Feminine; "bambina" = little girl
    PortugueseMenina/meˈninɐ/Brazil/Europe similar; "garota" (Brazil)
    RussianДевушка (Devushka)/dʲɪˈvuʂkə/Teen/young woman; "девочка" (devochka) = little girl
    Chinese (Mandarin)女孩 (Nǚhái)/ny˨˩ xaɪ˧˥/女 nǚ = female; 孩 hái = child
    Japanese少女 (Shōjo)/ɕoːdʑo/Teen girl; "女の子" (onnanoko) = girl/child
    Korean소녀 (Sonyeo)/so.ɲʌ/Literary/formal; "여자아이" (yeojaai) = girl child