politeness - Is there a word to describe female between 'girl' and 'woman'?


I've been trying to find a word that describes someone that's older than a 'girl' but not yet a 'woman'. It seems the connotation of girl is an immature female that's still growing up. Whereas a woman connotes a female that's starting to settle down in life.


Other words such as lady connote delicateness. There are few other words and most of them are derogatory.


My curiosity is around the maturation of a female i.e. someone just out of college figuring life out but out of the 'girl' stage.



Answer



There's "ingenue" which has the connotation of innocence. If you want to go less formal, there's "chick" or the latin-flavored "chica".


Finally, as a female, I can attest that it is always a badge of honor to be called a woman. :-)


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