tomgirl

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

tomgirl

Where it comes from

From tom + girl. The “girlish boy” sense was formed as an antonym of tomboy; the “boyish girl” sense is an alteration of tomboy to reinforce that the referent is a girl.

noun tomgirls

A boy who behaves in a typically girlish manner. This tactic didn't work, so several weeks later, in a variation on a theme, I reported to two girls on the playground "I'm a tomgirl," calculating that if tomboys exist, tomgirls must also, and I must be one. That didn't work either, […]
Similar: janegirl
Synonym of tomboy (“girl who behaves in a typically boyish manner”). Homosexual stirrings in children before puberty are very difficult to evaluate; most small boys with signs of effeminacy probably do not become homosexuals as adults and most tomgirls become heterosexual.
Similar: tomboy

Translations

Every language

noun girlish boy

Français	fille manquée

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"tomgirl." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/tomgirl. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

tomgirl. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/tomgirl

Chicago

"tomgirl." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/tomgirl.

BibTeX

@misc{tomgirl_2026,
  title = {tomgirl},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/tomgirl},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}