# Forum Learning Russian Language Grammar and Vocabulary  девочка vs. девушка

## Platinum

девочка vs. девушка 
What is the difference?

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## Ramil

> 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.

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## Platinum

> 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.

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## gRomoZeka

> 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).

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## Platinum

> 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.

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## Ramil

> 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).

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## JJ

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

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

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## Leof

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!"_

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## Zaya

> 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!

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## Zaya

> But, people tend to call any young female девушка.

 И правильно. Нечего на этом моменте внимание заострять.   ::

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## Rtyom

Райкин, что ли, это был? 
Возрасты женщины: девочка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, девушка, умерла старушка...

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## 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?

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## gRomoZeka

> 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_.  ::

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## Ramil

> 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

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## paulb

> 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  ::

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## Ramil

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

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## paulb

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

 No one knows them all.

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## Milanya1

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

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