bas mitzvah

noun (often initial capital letters)

1. a solemn ceremony, chiefly among Reform and Conservative Jews, that is held in the synagogue on Friday night or Saturday morning to admit formally as an adult member of the Jewish community a girl 12 to 13 years old.
2. the girl participating in this ceremony.

verb (used with object)

3. to administer the ceremony of bat mitzvah to.

adjective

1. (of a Jewish girl) having attained religious majority at the age of twelve

noun

2. the date of, or, in some congregations, a ceremony marking, this event
3. the girl herself on that day

1950, literally “daughter of command;” a Jewish girl who has reached age 12, the age of religious majority. Extended to the ceremony held on occasion of this.

An important ceremony and social event in Judaism marking the beginning of religious responsibility for Jewish girls; it is the less frequently observed counterpart of the bar mitzvah. Bat mitzvah is Hebrew for “daughter of the commandment.”