Girlfriend

For other uses, see Girlfriend (disambiguation).

A girlfriend is a female partner in a non-marital romantic relationship, or a female friend.

Scope

The term is most commonly used to describe any female person who is in a romantic relationship with another person.

An older woman in such a non-marital relationship is sometimes described instead as a significant other or partner, especially if the two partners are living together. At times, since "girlfriend" and "partner" mean different things to different people, the distinctions between the terms are subjective, and which term is used in a relationship will ultimately be determined by personal preference.

When used by a girl or woman about another female in a non-sexual, non-romantic context, the 2-word form "girl friend" is usually used to avoid confusion with the romantic meaning.

Though nuanced, there is a significant difference between girlfriend and boyfriend, and girl friend and boy friend. In a strictly grammatical sense, a girlfriend or boyfriend is an 'individual of significance' with whom one shares a relationship. A girl friend or boy friend, however, is simply a friend identified on the basis of gender.

Synonyms

• Depending on the informal speech styles in a given time and place, one's girlfriend is sometimes referred to as "my old lady", "my lady," "my main squeeze," "my girl," "my bird," "my honey", "my sauce", "my bitch", "my boo", "my baby", "boo boo kitty fuck" and "my chick" may be used in the same sense as "girlfriend"; however, it should be noted that some individuals consider these terms sexist. Frequently, these are preceded by a possessive pronoun or otherwise contextually marked for clarification, as such terms are more generic ways of referring to females and alone do not indicate a relationship of any sort.
• A female engaged in an extramarital relationship with a married person is frequently considered a "mistress".
• Some terms of endearment directed to females, a romantic relationship is not required, are "darling", "sweetheart", "lover", etc.
• Users of Internet slang often shorten girlfriend to the acronym gf.

See also

• Boyfriend
• Courtship
• Partner
• Gold digger
• Pussy whipped
• Significant other