girly
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡɝli/
ipa: /ˈɡɜːli/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)li
Etymology: From girl + -ly (adverbial suffix), after the adjective.
Senses: examples: text: And its^([sic]) not just the blue nail polish. It’s the way his mind is attuned. He is incredibly in touch and in tune with females. Females surround him in his company. His partner in Jersey Films is Stacey Scherr.^([sic]) He can talk about boyfriends. He can talk girly.
ref: 1996 November 17, Chrissy Iley, “Danny DeVito”, in Men, Women, Love, Sex, God & Death: The Collected Sunday Times Writings, London: André Deutsch, published 1997, →ISBN, chapter 10 (Sweet), page 340:
text: ‘He really cares about you,’ Slider said awkwardly. Doing the old bosom-baring on your own behalf was bad enough, but having to talk girly about a male friend was as easy as eating a sand sandwich.
ref: 2001, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, “Not Buried But In Turd”, in Gone Tomorrow, London: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 203:
text: Your boobs are too small. AND YOU DON’T TALK GIRLY ENOUGH!
ref: 2005 January 11, Tamayo Akiyama, translated by Alexis Kirsch, Hyper Rune, volume 2, Los Angeles, Calif.: Tokyopop, →ISBN:
text: Just a half hour earlier, I had checked in by text with Eric. “Hey, Sugarbuns. Remember, I’m at Dag’s. Going to talk girly and drown my sorrow in mojitos.”
ref: 2013 April 2, Nicole Knepper, “The Vagina Dialogues”, in Moms Who Drink and Swear: True Tales of Loving My Kids While Losing My Mind, New York, N.Y.: New American Library, →ISBN, “Sisterhood of the Status Updates: Girlfriends, Genitals and Growing Up” section, page 20:
text: “[…] To me, he looks kinda girly to be in charge.” […] “Grab any sword you like, and we’ll see if I fight ‘girly’.”
ref: 2013 June 19, Michael J. Bowler, “We’re Brothers Now, Aren’t We?”, in Children of the Knight (The Lance Chronicles; 1), Tallahassee, Fla.: Harmony Ink Press, →ISBN, pages 93–94:
text: Taichi can speak girly; how he would sound in falsetto is anybody's guess, but he's far from the manliest of men while Youko is far from the girliest of girls, and it's not unbelievable that his practice of girl's speech went as far as that (though at six-seven years old he wouldn't have had issues).
ref: 2013 October 25, George Henry Shaft, “CCC3003”, in On Cross Channel, 10ᵗʰ anniversary edition, ASIN B0DTW4T573:
text: Women who try too hard to be one of the boys ain’t my thing, I realized on the cusp of mid-life. I like women who talk girly, act girly, and engage in the girly sisterhood: dress nice, but not pretentiously, giggle often, and know that a gentle stroke of the fingertips along the back of a fellow’s neck is sexier than anything this side of newly worn silk nighties.
ref: 2015 August 5, Barry F. Schnell, chapter 4, in Coccyx Cousins, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN:
text: “[…] Like if he talks kind of girly, or sort of walks like a girl, it might mean he’s gay.” “I don’t talk girly, do I?” I squeak in alarm. “No, sugar, you don’t talk girly,” she says and preemptively adds, “and you don’t walk girly either.” […] (He’s always talked kind of girly himself.)
ref: 2017 August 28, Huston Piner, “Dedicated to the One I Love”, in My Life as a Myth (Chadham High; 1), Albuquerque, N.M.: NineStar Press, →ISBN, page 196:
text: Is your wife now grumpy, surly, / Will not cuddle, won’t talk girly? / Hints she’s craving soft, sweet chat? / Then rush right out, buy her a cat!
ref: 2020, Rolland “Moose” Amos, “Poetry Potpourri”, in Junk Poetry III, Pittsburgh, Pa.: Dorrance Publishing Co, published 12 May 2021, →ISBN, page 25:
synonyms: girlily
girlishly
glosses: In the manner of a girl.