filly

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fillī, also spelled fyly,^[2][3][4] probably borrowed from Old Norse fylja,^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} a feminine derivative of foli (“foal”).^[5][11][12] The OED, revised in 2023, gives the source more cautiously as early Scandinavian, comparing the Old Icelandic word and the regional Swedish följa and Danish fylje, and explains the word as a weak feminine formed from the same Germanic base as foal.^[13] Barnhart too calls the Scandinavian origin possible, and compares fyl (“filly, foal”).^[3] Hoad thinks the word probably much older than its first record, and sets it beside Old High German fulihha and fulī (“foal”), the source of German Füllen;^{[10][9][4][14]} Etymonline traces the Germanic form, Proto-Germanic *fuljo, to Proto-Indo-European *pulo- (“young of an animal”), a suffixed form of *pau- (“few, little”).^[5][6] Johnson had derived it from Welsh or from French fille.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

A young female horse: 1379, in a will from Carlisle.^[13] Barnhart and the Middle English Dictionary give the first record as 1404, in Durham accounts that list I fyly beside a foal of the year,^[3][2] and Etymonline dates the word to about 1400.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named a young mare, as opposed to the male colt and the foal of either sex;^[13][9] the Shorter Oxford narrows it to the time from weaning to the age of four or five,^[9] and Collins and Merriam-Webster to a mare under four.^[7][4] From 1591 it was applied to a lively or spirited girl,^[13][5] later to any girl or young woman, especially one thought of as attractive;^[13][4] Collins labels this use informal and rare.^[7] A verb filly, of a mare, to foal, is recorded from 1598, in Florio's dictionary.^[13] In northern English and Scottish dialect, a filly-fair was a gathering of young people, and a filly-foal a young female foal.^[16] In American gay slang of the 1970s it was used of an effeminate homosexual man and of a passive lesbian.^[17]

Timeline

• 1379 – a young female horse.^[13] Barnhart and the MED date the word to 1404.^[3][2]
• 1591 – a lively or spirited girl or young woman.^[13][5]
• 1598 – verb, of a mare, to give birth to a foal.^[13]
• 1972 – in American gay slang, an effeminate homosexual man.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. A young female horse, usually one under four years old: The filly won her first race by a length.^[4][7][13]
2. (informal) A girl or young woman, especially a lively one.^[4][7][13]

Related words

• foal

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com