PERMANENT SOURCE RECORD
ALL SOURCES ↗BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYmw-girl
SOURCE
RECORD.
One work. Every claim that depends on it. No citation without a consequence you can inspect.
7 PUBLIC LINKS INTO THE GRAPH.
This count excludes duplicate dossier-path citations. Open the claims below to see exactly how the source is used.
historical dictionarymw-girl
Girl — Definition, Word History, and First Known Use
- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Merriam-Webster
- DOI
- Not recorded
- SOURCE TYPE
- historical dictionary
- EXTERNAL RECORD
- OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
011
CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS
RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
RANK 122GRADE Asupports
Girl could once refer to a boy.
Middle English girle could denote a child of either sex; later English narrowed it toward a female child or young woman.
girle
girle → girl
Word History: young person of either sexPublishes the broad Middle English sense.
girl dossier ↗truth record ↗86UNVEILING
021
SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT
DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
resolvedsupportsestablished
Did Middle English girl mean only a female child?
No. Girle could denote a child or young person of either sex and could even be specified as a boy.
Word History: young person of either sexDirectly documents the broad medieval sense.
031
CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS
EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
EDGE 869supportsestablished
girl → girle
Present-Day English → Middle English · continuation
- SOUND
- Middle English girle develops into modern girl with stabilized spelling and pronunciation.
- MEANING
- A child or young person of either sex narrows to a female child or young woman.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors · Middle English Dictionary Editors
Word History: Middle English gurle or girle, young person of either sexPublishes the broad medieval sense and fourteenth-century horizon.
041
LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS
WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE
girlSOURCE-REPORTED
girl
Merriam-Webster first-known-use report for girl
OPEN WITNESS 185 ↗050
COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE
COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES
No comparative-relative record currently cites this source.
062
GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS
JOURNEY STAGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
stage 2supports
English-speaking world
Supplies the century interval.
First Known Use: 14th century · globalstage 3supports
Global English
Documents continuation as the modern English headword.
Modern headword and definitions · global071
NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS
HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE
semantic pair distinct historiessupports
TWO CHILD WORDS THAT DID NOT START AS MIRRORS
Girl and boy now form a familiar pair, but Middle English girle could cross sex while boi included male servant and churl. Their deeper origins remain unknown or proposed.
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors · Middle English Dictionary Editors · Oxford University Press Editors · established082
WORD-FAMILY REUSE
DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE
1 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.