girl [ME] The origin of girl is not known for certain. It could once refer to a child or young person of either sex, a use that survives in some Irish dialects. However, this use was already being replaced by a specifically female sense in Late Middle English. The variant gal started to appear in the late 18th century, reflecting a then current pronunciation. The phrase the girl next door, describing an ordinary and likeable young woman, was popularized by a film of that name in 1953 but had been used since the 1920s. A girl Friday is a female assistant or secretary—it derives from the name of Man Friday in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719), who helped the shipwrecked Crusoe, and was given publicity by the 1940 film His Girl Friday, although it too had been in use since the 1920s.