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Etymology and origin of the English word gal

English has two words spelled gal: an informal word for a girl, which represents a pronunciation of girl, and a unit of acceleration named after Galileo.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

gal1 girl

Confidence
Established
First attested
1795, B. Dearborn, Columbian Grammar

Etymology

The girl is a spelling of a colloquial or regional pronunciation of girl, American or southern English;[2][5][6][3] compare gell, the 19th-century literary form of the northern English variant.[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A girl or woman: 1795, when Benjamin Dearborn's Columbian Grammar listed gal for girl among vulgarisms.[2][5][7][3]

Semantic evolution

According to Dalzell, it was noted as Cockney in 1824 but rose socially until it was quite upper-class by about 1840; from about 1850 it could mean a servant girl or a prostitute, and by about 1860 a sweetheart.[8] It was current in American jazz and jive talk in the 1930s, and by about 2000 it sounded patronising or kitsch.[8] The Shorter Oxford labels it slang and dialect, now chiefly North American.[6] In the United States to go gallin' meant to go courting, from 1840,[7] and g'hal was the girlfriend of a b'hoy in 1849.[5] Gal Friday, after Robinson Crusoe, dates from 1940.[5]

Timeline

  • 1795 – listed as a vulgarism (Dearborn).[2][7]
  • 1824 – noted as Cockney.[8]
  • 1840 – go gallin', to go courting (US).[7]
  • c. 1850 – a servant girl; a prostitute.[8]
  • c. 1860 – a sweetheart.[8]
  • 1940 – Gal Friday.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (informal) A girl or woman.

Word family

  • gal pal

gal2 unit of acceleration

Confidence
Established
Formation
Eponym
First attested
1914, O. Klotz in Nature

Etymology

The unit is named after the Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei (died 1642),[3][2][1][9] as a shortening of his name.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A unit of acceleration, used for the force of gravity, equal to one centimetre per second per second: 1914, in Otto Klotz's letter to Nature.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1914 – the unit (Klotz, Nature).[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (physics) A unit of acceleration equal to one centimetre per second per second, used especially in measuring gravity.

Word family

  • milligal

References

  1. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  8. ^ a b c d e Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
  9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Gal.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/gal. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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