lass

See also: laß and låss

English

Etymology

From Middle English lasse, from Old Norse laskura (“an unmarried woman, maiden”). Cognate with Scots lassie.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /læs/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æs

Noun

lass (plural lasses)

1. (archaic in some dialects, informal) A young woman or girl.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:girl

   Coordinate term: lad

   Come and dance, ye lads and lasses!

   • 1952 February, H. C. Casserley, “Permanent Wayfarings”, in Railway Magazine, page 77:

     My audience to this not-too-easy operation was a small group of Scottish school lasses, who seemed (perhaps naturally) to find the proceedings somewhat mysterious, but at any rate amusing. I wished they would go away, but they didn't, so I had to get on with the job to the accompaniment of a background of giggles!

2. (Geordie, Mackem) A sweetheart.

Usage notes

Still prevalent in Scottish English, Irish English, North East England, Lancashire and Yorkshire. Sometimes used poetically in other dialects of English.

Derived terms

• buffer lass
• hallelujah lass
• lasslorn
• wor lass

Related terms

• lad
• lassie

Translations

a young woman or girl

• Arabic: صبية f
• Breton: merc'h (br), plac'h (br)
• Bulgarian: мома (bg) f (moma), девойка (bg) f (devojka)
• Cebuano: dalaga
• Czech: dívka (cs) f, děvenka f, děvče (cs) n
• Danish: tøs c
• Esperanto: junulino
• Finnish: tyttö (fi)
• French: demoiselle (fr) f, fille (fr) f, jeune fille (fr) f (child), fillette (fr) f (child), jeune femme (fr) f, nana (fr) f
• German: Mädchen (de) n, Jungfrau (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: κοράσιον n (korásion)

• Hebrew: ילדה f (yaldá) (child), נערה (he) f (na'ará) (teenage), בחורה f (bakhurá), עלמה (he) f ('almá)
• Hungarian: leány (hu), leányka (hu)
• Irish: cailín (ga) m, maighdean f, gearrchaile m
• Korean: 아가씨 (ko) (agassi)
• Macedonian: моме n (mome), девојче n (devojče)
• Occitan: tosa f, joventa (oc) f
• Persian: لاکو (fa) (lâku)
• Plautdietsch: Mejal f, Mäakjen n
• Portuguese: menina (pt), garota (pt), senhorita (pt), rapariga (pt)
• Russian: де́вушка (ru) f (dévuška), (child) де́вочка (ru) f (dévočka)
• Scottish Gaelic: (child) caileag (gd), nighean (gd), (child) nighneag (gd), gruagach (gd), rìbhinn (gd)
• Spanish: chica (es), chiquita (es), (child) niña (es), muchacha (es), señorita (es)
• Tagalog: ining, nene (tl), neneng
• Welsh: geneth (cy) (child), merch (cy), rhiain

sweetheart — see sweetheart

References

• A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, →ISBN
• “lass”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “lass”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [1]
• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, →ISBN
• A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896, [2]

Anagrams

• SALS, SALs, SASL, sALS, sals

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /las/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -as

Verb

lass

1. singular imperative of lassen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of lassen

Further reading

• “lass” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “lass” in Duden online

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Middle High German lōs, from Old High German *los, variant of lōs (“loose; free; lacking; sly, deceitful”). Compare for the short vowel Ripuarian Central Franconian loss, Dutch los. The uninflected stem of this adjective develops regularly into Luxembourgish lass, while the inflected stem yields the doublet lues (“slow, quiet”). See the English cognate loose for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɑs/

  Rhymes: -ɑs

Adjective

lass (masculine lassen, neuter lasst, comparative méi lass, superlative am lassten)

1. loose, unattached

Declension

declension of lass

number and gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter	all genders
predicative		hien ass lass	si ass lass	et ass lass	si si(nn) lass
nominative / accusative	attributive and/or after determiner	lassen	lass	lasst	lass
	independent without determiner			lasses	lasser
dative	after any declined word	lassen	lasser	lassen	lassen
	as first declined word	lassem		lassem

Derived terms

• lassgoen
• lassloossen

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lass/
• Rhymes: -ass
• Syllabification: lass

Noun

lass n

1. genitive plural of lasso

Swedish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Swedish las. Originally the past participle of a verb derived from Proto-Germanic *hlaþaną (“to load”). Doublet of lada and last.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lasː/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

lass n

1. load

Declension

Declension of lass
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	lass	lasset	lass	lassen
Genitive	lass	lassets	lass	lassens

Derived terms

• dra det tyngsta lasset
• liten tuva stjälper ofta stort lass

Related terms

• lassa

References

• lass in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• lass in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• lass in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• lass in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

Yola

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /las/

Etymology 1

From Middle English los, from Old English los.

Noun

lass

1. loss

Etymology 2

Noun

lass

1. Alternative form of lhose
   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 84:

     Th' valler w'speen here, th' lass ee chourch-hey.

     The more we spend here, the less in the churchyard.

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 52