Words that mean female or feminine?

January 6, 2008 8:46 PM

Words that mean woman/girl/female?

I'm looking for words that mean woman, female, feminity etc. Nouns, adjectives, prefixes, whatever.

So far I've got:
female, girl, woman, girly, chick, dame, lady, gal, fem-, -ess, -ette, -euse, pink, lass, femina, femme, miss, missy, mistress. It's a short list, mostly what I can find in the thesaurus. I suck. There must be loads more.

Non-sexist, please! I don't need words like "bitch" or sexual slurs.

posted by giggleknickers to writing & language (47 comments total)

maid
maiden
colleen
sheila
chica
posted by ninazer0 at 8:48 PM on January 6

betty, shorty, doll
(ugh)
posted by samthemander at 8:49 PM on January 6

bird
honey
posted by Sara Anne at 8:49 PM on January 6

sheila (Australia-specific, I'm sure), babe, wench, broad
posted by andraste at 8:50 PM on January 6

bint!
posted by mumkin at 8:51 PM on January 6

Oh, bugger. Scratch that. It appears that the British have managed to pervert it.
posted by mumkin at 8:53 PM on January 6

vixen, nanny, doe, hen, etc.
posted by Frank Grimes at 8:55 PM on January 6

I forgot: also "mother" and all the variations thereof (mom, mum, momma, ma etc)
posted by ninazer0 at 8:58 PM on January 6

Ma'am. Do other languages count (madam, mademoiselle, frau, fraulein)?
posted by saucysault at 8:59 PM on January 6

broad.
posted by heathergirl at 9:02 PM on January 6

shorty.
posted by Ironmouth at 9:03 PM on January 6

broad
posted by special-k at 9:03 PM on January 6

effeminate
posted by kisch mokusch at 9:06 PM on January 6

-trix
co-ed
posted by 23skidoo at 9:12 PM on January 6

Fox.
posted by 517 at 9:13 PM on January 6

she-
posted by burnmp3s at 9:16 PM on January 6

Moll.
posted by frobozz at 9:25 PM on January 6

Tomato.
posted by JABof72 at 9:32 PM on January 6

skirt, squaw

Is "femina" a word? Which thesaurus did you use?
posted by nicwolff at 9:35 PM on January 6

Great, guys (and...chicas)! Thanks so much. Keep them coming!

nicwolff, femina is a slang word, and I think it's also Latin. They don't need to be real words. Slang is just fine. Even newly made-up slang would be fine as long as it's instantly recognizable as meaning "woman."

saucysault, foreign words are great if they are universably recognizable.
posted by giggleknickers at 9:38 PM on January 6

distaff (sometimes offensive)
posted by hydrophonic at 9:54 PM on January 6

yoni/yonic.
posted by suedehead at 10:12 PM on January 6

gyno- or gyn-

(I thought shorty was meant to describe kids?)
posted by Joh at 10:29 PM on January 6

In french there is :
Nana
fille
fillette
gamine
posted by zouhair at 10:35 PM on January 6

Indirectly, "your better half", when referring to someone's wife.
The fairer sex, goddess, diva.
posted by doctor_negative at 10:35 PM on January 6

filly is sometimes used in Oz. And I once heard a Welshman refer so his boss as a 'silly mare'.
posted by tim_in_oz at 11:02 PM on January 6

Quine / Quinie

In "doric", a dialect of North East Scotland (Aberdeenshire area specifically).
posted by dcbarker at 12:26 AM on January 7

I find the Norwegian jente (girl) and Swedish equivalent flicka strangely erotic, for some reason.

@tim_in_oz: yes filly is common, especially on race day.

girlie is another term I use (and have heard used), mainly when talking about someone who isn't present... eg "Where's your girlie from"?
posted by flutable at 12:45 AM on January 7

"mound" (as seen here)
posted by breath at 1:45 AM on January 7

Squaw, yoni, and mound (so far) specifically mean vulva--and Native Americans consider "squaw" pejorative--is this what you want, giggleknickers?
posted by brujita at 2:00 AM on January 7

hahahaha

"shiksa" (non-jewish woman, in yiddish, may be perjorative)
oh my god, now my schmendrick son is seeing that shiksa? Oy vey... </i)
posted by wuzandfuzz at 2:47 AM on January 7

daughter, mother, aunt?
posted by jozxyqk at 3:20 AM on January 7

Wench.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:42 AM on January 7

Donna? Italian for woman.

I always thought there was a Destiny's Child lyric that went 'All the donnas who got the dollars' but apparently it's 'mommas' according to the internet. Still stands though.
posted by corvine at 4:49 AM on January 7

If slang counts, then how about "grrl"? Of course, that is so 5 years ago.
posted by artifarce at 5:42 AM on January 7

Chippy
posted by electroboy at 6:40 AM on January 7

The feminist 'Wimmin' which later became a cliche and was used to mock feminism
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:40 AM on January 7

I call my friends who have kids "mama".

Busia is Polish for grandmother, and in my [English-speaking of Polish descent] family, we use it to refer to any older woman.

Gal-pal for girlfriend.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 6:40 AM on January 7

Belle
posted by yeti at 6:41 AM on January 7

The feminist 'Wimmin' which later became a cliche and was used to mock feminism
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 8:40 AM on January 7 [+] [!]

Womyn and womon also, although I don't know of their use to mock.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 6:42 AM on January 7

(I thought shorty was meant to describe kids?)

Originally it was. It went through the same sort of semantic drift that "babe" did.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:06 AM on January 7

'Hen', from Scotland.

And regardless of what wikipedia says, bint isn't usually offensive but I guess it depends on the adjective used. 'Silly bint' is a soft deride and the most common usage I've heard, used in the same context as 'silly mare' or 'silly chook' - implying she's a bit of a duffer but in no way offensive.
posted by goo at 7:38 AM on January 7

Bitty's, as in Bitty's in the BK Lounge ( De La Soul )

Honeydips, Hotties, Lovelies, and Dime Pieces.
posted by kaizen at 7:39 AM on January 7

Quine / Quinie
In "doric", a dialect of North East Scotland (Aberdeenshire area specifically).

Those are the Scots equivalent of English quean, which rapidly fell out of use when it merged in sound with queen; it's a very interesting word because it goes back to the Indo-European root for 'woman,' which also gave rise to Sanskrit jani 'woman, wife,' Old Church Slavonic žena 'woman, wife' (> Old Russian žena 'woman, wife,' Russian žena 'wife'), Old Irish ben 'woman, wife' (Irish bean), Old Welsh ben 'woman, wife,' and (with another form of the same base) Sanskrit gnā- 'goddess, divine female,' Avestan gənā 'woman, wife,' and ancient Greek gunē 'woman, wife.'

Here's the OED on the Scots form, with some citations:

Sc. Freq. in form quine. A young woman, a girl, a lass; esp. one with a youthful bloom or a healthy appearance. Also: a daughter.
1488 (c1478) HARY Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) IV. 782 A stalwart queyne, forsuth, yon semys to be. [...] 1574 in D. H. Fleming Reg. Christian Congregation St. Andrews (1889-90) 405 [He] said to Elspet his dochtir.. 'Quein! quhat auchtis to thé?' 1619 Rec. Kirk Session Brechin 10 Aug., And namelie lounes and queynes wha usis commonlie to run out off the kirk.. befoir the hour. [...] a1796 R. BURNS Poems & Songs I. 326, I see her yet, the sonsy quean, That lighted up my jingle. 1817 SCOTT Rob Roy II. xiv. 309 It shews a kind heart in sae young a quean—Mattie's a carefu' lass. [...] 1916 Banffshire Jrnl. 30 May 6 He got a muckle parcel frae Hilly's aul'est quine. [...] 1958 J. KESSON White Bird Passes (1992) x. 152 My faith ye! But ye've shot up, Quean! Ye was just a bairn the other day. 1996 W. N. HERBERT Cabaret McGonagall 91 Noo gaither roond baith quine an loon And a nitherin screed Eh'll read. 2007 Aberdeen Evening Express (Nexis) 2 Mar. 26, I was out celeb-spotting with my quine in London.

(You'll note from the last citation that this entry is quite up-to-date; it was revised just last month!)

And while I'm at it, some cites for the English form (which over time, unfortunately, took on the meaning 'a bold or impudent woman; a hussy'):

1780 R. B. SHERIDAN School for Scandal III. iii. 36 Here's to the flaunting, extravagant quean, And then to the housewife that's thrifty. 1823 BYRON Don Juan VI. xcvi, This martial scold, This modern Amazon and queen of queans. 1827 T. HOOD Flowers i, in Friendship's Offering 107 The tulip is a courtly quean, Whom, therefore, I will shun. 1880 T. E. WEBB Goethe's Faust III. ii. 190 The dame's a most commodious quean, A gypsy born and go-between! 1924 E. SITWELL Sleeping Beauty xiv. 47 My eyes are dim,—I yet can see You, lazy quean! Go work!
posted by languagehat at 7:41 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]

Cow; not always derogatory or at least my impression is that in the UK it can sometimes be used affectionately.
posted by 6550 at 8:19 AM on January 7

Chandler novels and Bogart movies to the rescue!

skirt
necker
moll
tomato
baby vamp
chassis (referring to the female body)
Jane

and one of my favorites,

"a choice bit of calico."
posted by BenzeneChile at 8:50 AM on January 7 [1 favorite]

Frail

Clearly sexist, but no more so than some others.

(I also like that frail can mean "75 lbs of raisins." Now THERE is a word that I'm going to use every day!)
posted by dirtdirt at 10:58 AM on January 7