Where does “girlhood” come from?
Girlhood comes from English girl plus the Middle English suffix -hod, from Middle English gerle, Old English gyrele, and Proto-Indo-European (s)kayt-.
girlhood (English): The state of being a girl; The childhood of a...
Definitions
- The state of being a girl; The childhood of a...
Ancestry of “girlhood”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | -hood | A substantive suffix denoting a condition or... |
| 2 | Middle English | -hede | Affixed to nouns and adjectives to form nouns... |
| 3 | Old English | -hād | -hood |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | -haidu | hood |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | haiduz | manner, way; personality, character; appearance |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)kayt- | — |