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Lass

Dialect
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A girl or young woman; a term of affection and address central to Scots lyric tradition.

Detailed Definition
"Lass" is fundamental to the Scots lyric tradition, the counterpart to "lad" and the object of countless songs and love poems. Burns's lasses are real, embodied, spirited young women, celebrated for their beauty and character without idealization. The word carries warmth, familiarity, and respect, and it appears in contexts ranging from tender love lyric to rousing dance song. "Lass" is the vernacular alternative to "maiden" or "girl," grounding affection in everyday speech rather than literary convention.
Example
Example in poetry:
"Lass" means a young woman or girl; Burns writes "My Bonnie Lass" and "A man's a man for a' that" and addresses lasses throughout; A poet might write: "A bonnie lass walked doun the lane, / her laughter lighter than the rain." for a lyric portrait; "She was her father's darling lass / until the years began tae pass." shows time's transformation; "The lass grew up and faced the day / wi' steady heart and words tae say." celebrates a young woman's maturity; "Lang may ye run, my bonnie lass — / the world grows better as ye pass." offers a blessing; "A lass can be a universe — / containing tides, and joy, and worse." elevates the term beyond diminutive
Additional Notes
Lass is one of the cornerstones of Scots lyric tradition, the female half of the "lad and lass" pairing that structures so many songs and poems of love and courtship. Its range runs from the very young (a child) to the unmarried young woman, and it carries associations of freshness, potential, and the kind of beauty that belongs specifically to youth and country life. In Burns, the "lass" is not merely an object of desire but an agent — capable of wit, warmth, cruelty, and tenderness. Students should note how Burns's lasses differ from the passive beloveds of much conventional love poetry: they speak, choose, and act. Compare with "quean" (girl, also sometimes used pejoratively) for a related but distinct term.
Also Known As
Girl Young woman Lassie wench
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