The word “girl” isn’t historically tied to a specific gender. Rather, as professor of linguistics Sally McConnell-Ginet explained to the Huffington Post, it was first used in the 13th century to refer to a young person in general, whether they were male or female. Up until the 16th century, “gay girls” were young women and “knave girls” were young men. (“gay” means or cheerful, “knave” means dishonest )
