Girl facts for kids
A girl is a young female human, either child or adolescent. Little girls still have the body of a child. It is not until they reach puberty (perhaps around age 11 to 13) that their bodies start to mature and they become a woman. During puberty, a girl develops breasts, their hips and shoulders widen and they begin to have periods.
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Overview
The word "girl" was used a long time ago by some people called Anglo Saxons. Sometimes older people still refer to grown up women as "girls", especially in expressions such as "a night out with the girls".
The opposite of a girl is a boy. A boy is a male child who will grow into a man.
The way girls are brought up will be vary a lot between different cultures. In Western cultures, a girl traditionally wears a dress or skirt. However, many girls wear trousers (pants) these days, like boys, especially when dressed informally. Girls often grow their hair longer than boys, although this can vary a lot according to quickly changing fashions.
Tradition
Traditionally, girls play with dolls a lot. Boys often prefer rough games and enjoy playing with mechanical things such as toy cars and trains. People today have long discussions about whether this is because they are born like that, or because that is the way society expects them to behave.
The traditional colour for a girl is pink. For boys it is blue. When a baby is born in a hospital it usually gets a pink or blue tag on its wrist or ankle, according to whether it is a girl or a boy.
Some names are girls' names, while others are boys’ names. There are some names which can be for girls and boys (although they may be spelt differently, e.g. "Jo" for a girl and "Joe" for a boy).
In some countries such as Britain, "old girl" means a grown up who used to be a pupil at a particular school (e.g. "She is an old girl of Cransbury High School"). Used in any other way, "old girl" sounds rude (unlike "old boy" which always sounds friendly).
Related pages
Images for kids
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Princess Neferure as a girl, sitting on the lap of her tutor Senenmut. Girls and women in Ancient Egypt enjoyed a relatively high social status.
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The future Elizabeth I of England at age 13 years.
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Bat mitzvah in Israel
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Cooking class at a girls' school in Jerusalem, c. 1936. Girls' upbringing and education was traditionally focused on preparing them to be future wives.
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Two American high school girls
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Schoolgirls in Mumbai, India
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Girls employed in different forms of child labour in Central America
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Tamil girls playing
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Peter Paul Rubens - Portrait of a Young Girl
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The Time Of The Lilacs, by Sophie Gengembre Anderson.
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Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Johannes Vermeer
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Two girl figurines by Royal Doulton.
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The Hunger Games, Mockingjay - Part 1 - District 12 Hero Viral Poster
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A girl applying henna art in Morocco
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Cambodian girls on bicycle
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Girl in Turkey practicing gymnastics
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Jakun girls playing pick-up sticks, Malaysia
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Two girls inline skating in Netherlands
