Thread: девочка vs. девушка

девочка vs. девушка

What is the difference?

Originally Posted by Platinum

девочка vs. девушка

What is the difference?

If she's under the consent age you call her девочка

To be serious, девочка refers to a child while девушка refers to a grownup. Although, you may call your girlfried девочка.

Originally Posted by Ramil

If she's under the consent age you call her девочка

To be serious, девочка refers to a child while девушка refers to a grownup. Although, you may call your girlfried девочка.

So then, is девушка the same as женщина? Sorry, I'm just a little confused.

Originally Posted by Platinum

So then, is девушка the same as женщина? Sorry, I'm just a little confused.

No strict rules here. The same person can be "a girl" for you, or "young woman" for another speaker. It depends on your age, attitude and the manner of speach.
But it's more or less like this:

девочка -> девушка -> молодая женщина -> женщина ->пожилая женщина -> старушка/бабушка

But the young girl can be called "девушка" only jokingly. Девочка turns into девушка in her middle or late teen years.
Also девочка/девушка can be used as euphemism for "virgin". (Она еще девочка - She's still a virgin).

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

No strict rules here. The same person can be "a girl" for you, or "young woman" for another speaker. It depends on your age, attitude and the manner of speach.
But it's more or less like this:

девочка -> девушка -> молодая женщина -> женщина ->пожилая женщина -> старушка/бабушка

But the young girl can be called "девушка" only jokingly. Девочка turns into девушка in her middle or late teen years.
Also девочка/девушка can be used as euphemism for "virgin". (Она еще девочка - She's still a virgin).

Thank you very much. That clears everything up.

Originally Posted by Platinum

Originally Posted by Ramil

If she's under the consent age you call her девочка

To be serious, девочка refers to a child while девушка refers to a grownup. Although, you may call your girlfried девочка.

So then, is девушка the same as женщина? Sorry, I'm just a little confused.

Strictly speaking both девочка and девушка derive from the word дева (a maiden, a virgin). So девушка turns into a young woman after her first sexual intercourse. But, people tend to call any young female девушка.

Девочка strictly speaking is a girl under 16 (i think) (but you can use it to express your affection to a girlfriend or even to stress on silliness of a grown woman - глупая девочка/девчонка).

Originally Posted by Ramil

Девочка strictly speaking is a girl under 16 (i think)

Девочка is a girl under the age of her secondary sexual characters.

В русскоговорящих странах женщины любого возраста способны назвать своих сверстниц "девочки".

В частности старушки на базаре кричат, обращаясь ко всем без исключения прохожим, мужчинам и женщинам: "Девачки, семачки берём...подходим берём недорага!"

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Originally Posted by Platinum

So then, is девушка the same as женщина? Sorry, I'm just a little confused.

No strict rules here. The same person can be "a girl" for you, or "young woman" for another speaker. It depends on your age, attitude and the manner of speach.
But it's more or less like this:

девочка -> девушка -> молодая женщина -> женщина ->пожилая женщина -> старушка/бабушка

But the young girl can be called "девушка" only jokingly. Девочка turns into девушка in her middle or late teen years.
Also девочка/девушка can be used as euphemism for "virgin". (Она еще девочка - She's still a virgin).

Звонок в роддом:
- Подскажите, пожалуйста, девушка из такой-то палаты ещё не родила?
- Молодой человек, у нас девушек нет!

But, people tend to call any young female девушка.

И правильно. Нечего на этом моменте внимание заострять.

Райкин, что ли, это был?

Возрасты женщины: девочка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, умерла старушка...

Rtyom -- rofl!!

jj> girl under the age of her secondary sexual characters.
Представления не имею о значении вашего предложения. Что вы бы хотели сказать под этим?

Originally Posted by chaika

Rtyom -- rofl!!

jj> girl under the age of her secondary sexual characters.
Представления не имею о значении вашего предложения. Что вы бы хотели сказать под этим?

Думаю, он имеет в виду, что девочка не является девушкой, пока у нее не появятся вторичные половые признаки.

Originally Posted by chaika

Rtyom -- rofl!!

jj> girl under the age of her secondary sexual characters.
Представления не имею о значении вашего предложения. Что вы бы хотели сказать под этим?

It's a calque from a biologists' term вторичные половые признаки (I really don't have an idea how they are called in english, I mean breasts, public hair, etc ) My guess - secondary gender features. Well, what's the difference anyway between sex and gender?

P.S. I was wrong:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_ ... acteristic

Originally Posted by Ramil

Originally Posted by chaika

Rtyom -- rofl!!

jj> girl under the age of her secondary sexual characters.
Представления не имею о значении вашего предложения. Что вы бы хотели сказать под этим?

It's a calque from a biologists' term вторичные половые признаки (I really don't have an idea how they are called in english, I mean breasts, public hair, etc ) My guess - secondary gender features. Well, what's the difference anyway between sex and gender?

P.S. I was wrong:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_ ... acteristic

You can say "secondary sexual characteristic" in English, but you would only say it in biology class or some scientific situation. We can tell you lots of synonyms for "breasts" if you'd like to know

I know them all. I was saying that I only hadn't known how do biologists call them

Originally Posted by Ramil

I know them all. I was saying that I only hadn't known how do biologists call them

No one knows them all.

http://www.onelook.com/?w=secondary+sex ... stics&ls=a