乙女

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Chinese

2nd heavenly stem female; woman; daughter
trad. (乙女)
simp. #(乙女)

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese (おと)() (otome).

Pronunciation


Noun

乙女

  1. (neologism, slang, ACG) maiden; virgin; pure girl

Derived terms

Japanese

Kanji in this term
おと
Grade: S

Grade: 1
kun'yomi

Alternative forms

Etymology

⟨woto2me1/wotome//otome/

From Old Japanese. Found in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.

Compound of おと (oto, cognate with Old Japanese verb 復つ otsu, “to become young”) +‎ (me, girl, female).[1][2] Contrasts with (otoko, man, original meaning of “boy”).[1][2] See also (musume, daughter), (hime, princess).

Pronunciation

Noun

(おと)() (otomeをとめ (wotome)?

  1. daughter
  2. virgin, maiden
  3. little girl, young lady
    (いのち)(みじか)し、(こい)せよ(おと)()
    inochi mijikashi, koiseyo otome
    Life is short; fall in love, young woman.

Derived terms

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN