little girl
- noun
- /ˈlɪtəl ɡɜrl/
- Give me your hand, little girl.
- one little girl
- give the little girl
- little girl said
It's a picture of a little girl dying of thirst.
- It's a picture of a little girl dying of thirst.
- You've got that sweet little girl who thinks the world of you.
- Now the USA Freedom kids, those little girls, they're now suing Donald Trump.
- By the way, did you see those two little girls from Burnley going?
- I said my little girl is my entire world.
- And as a result of that, this little girl has never been saved.
- Little girls, little girls everywhere I turn.
- I'm sure they were holding their little girl and they knew.
- And to be doing that to a little girl was just so wrong.
- But Madison Beer is also a little girl and she is me.
- And I thought to myself, this little girl can do that.
- And I thought about my my little girl and.
Examples
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You've got that sweet little girl who thinks the world of you.
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You're such a nice little girl.
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I heard a little girl ask her father.
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So seeing her as this little girl is just so beautiful.
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I said my little girl is my entire world.
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Our little girl watches you all the time.
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When the teacher was introducing his "science boys," a little girl asked for help on a science fair project.
Academic text (2011) -
Her thoughts turned from children in general to one particular little girl, Amy, four years old.
Fiction book (1990) -
There was nothing, really, for a sensible little girl to feel bad about.
Fiction book (1990) -
I heard a little girl ask her father for permission to play outside.
Synonyms
A young person who is not yet an adult, often a son or daughter
A young female who is not yet an adult
A young girl or young woman someone speaks to in a casual, slightly rude way
A young child
A woman or girl spoken to in a warm, slightly old-fashioned way
A girl who goes to school, usually as a child or teenager
A girl or young woman
A child who behaves well and is much loved
A young woman or a close female friend said in a friendly, playful way
A young child
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a young female child' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'little' (young/small) with 'girl' (female child). This simple adjective + noun composition follows regular English and cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
The phrase little girl is a literal picture: little means small or young and girl means a female child. So it means 'a young female child'.