女

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character

See images of
Radical 38 女

女 (Kangxi radical 38, 女+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 女 (V), four-corner 4040₀, composition ⿻𡿨丆(GJKV) or ⿻𡿨𠂇(HT))

1. Kangxi radical #38, ⼥.

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/女, 奻, 㚣, 姦
• 㚢, 𠯆, 𡥃, 𢑒, 𫹌, 𢖵, 汝, 𣅓, 𪱴, 𤖩, 𤘙, 𤣷, 肗, 𤯕, 𫀁, 籹, 𦘽, 𫌜, 𫌳, 𧴱, 𧺜, 𨐎, 釹(钕), 𩖠, 𩚔, 𩨚, 𫶯, 𠚰, 邚, 䎟, 䶯
• 㣽, 𭴇, 𥁅, 𠕷, 𡉓, 安, 𢇘, 𦬑, 𢨭, 𣱘, 𥤨, 𥫭, 娄, 耍, 要, 𮡎, 𦯽, 𤕢, 𫒈, 𩁻, 蒆, 𫘺, 䆯, 䶒, 𨳐, 囡
• 佞, 𣍲, 㓂, 宼, 窛, 桜, 珱, 䋝, 䧪, 巕

Descendants

• め (Hiragana character derived from man'yōgana)
• メ (Katakana character derived from man'yōgana)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 254, character 22
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6036
• Dae Jaweon: page 516, character 19
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1023, character 23
• Unihan data for U+5973

• Unihan data for U+F981

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 女
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) : a woman with breasts kneeling or standing. In modern form turned on left side: enclosed area is remnant of left breast (character's left, depicted woman's right), while right breast has disappeared. Graphically cognate to 母 (mǔ, “mother”), which has developed similarly, but also includes dots for nipples and has retained both breasts. Compare Egyptian 𓁐.

Etymology 1

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 女 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 女 (Cantonese)

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *nja-ŋ/k (“woman”). Compare Tibetan ཉག་མོ (nyag mo, “woman”) (Hill, 2019).

Pronunciation 2 is an exoactive derivation of pronunciation 1 (Schuessler, 2007).

Pronunciation 1

Definitions

女

1. woman; (only of humans in Standard Chinese) female

   女人  ―  nǚrén  ―  woman

   女的  ―  nǚde  ―  woman; female

   一個女演員／一个女演员  ―  yī ge nǚ yǎnyuán  ―  an actress

   一個女士兵／一个女士兵  ―  yī ge nǚ shìbīng  ―  a female soldier

   請問女衛生間在哪兒？ [MSC, trad.]
   请问女卫生间在哪儿？ [MSC, simp.]

   Qǐngwèn nǚ wèishēngjiān zài nǎr?

   Excuse me, where is the ladies' lavatory?; Excuse me, where is the women's' bathroom?

   Coordinate term: 男 (nán)

   See also: 母, 雌

2. daughter (Classifier: 個／个 c; 粒 c)

   次女  ―  cì'nǚ  ―  second daughter

   佢係我個女。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   佢系我个女。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   keoi⁵ hai⁶ ngo⁵ go³ neoi^5-2

   She's my daughter.

3. (Cantonese) girl; young female (Classifier: 條／条 c; 班 c)

   靚女／靓女 [Cantonese]  ―  leng³ neoi^5-2   ―  pretty girl

4. (Cantonese, Teochew, slang) girlfriend (Classifier: 條／条 c; 粒 mn-t)
   • (Can we date this quote?), “脚车破尼”, performed by 郑小锴:

     想起昨年我許粒妮　騙我感情詐我個錢 [Teochew, trad.]
     想起昨年我许粒妮　骗我感情诈我个钱 [Teochew, simp.]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

5. (Cantonese, card games) queen (Classifier: 張／张 c; 隻／只 c)
6. (astronomy) the Girl (a Chinese constellation near Aquarius, 10th of the Twenty-Eight Mansions and part of the Black Turtle)

Synonyms

Compounds

Descendants

Pronunciation 2

Definitions

女

1. ^† to give one's daughter in marriage; to give as wife

   • 宋雍氏女於鄭莊公，曰雍姞。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     宋雍氏女于郑庄公，曰雍姞。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Commentary of Zuo, c. 4^th century BCE

     Sòng Yōngshì nǜ yú Zhèng Zhuānggōng, yuē Yōng Jí.

     The officer Yong of Song had married off a daughter, called Yong Ji to duke Zhuang of Zheng.

   • 殷辛伐有蘇，有蘇氏以妲己女焉。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     殷辛伐有苏，有苏氏以妲己女焉。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Guoyu, circa 4^th century BCE

     Yīnxīn fá yǒusū, yǒusū shì yǐ dájǐ nǜ yān.

     Xin of Yin attacked Yousu; Lord Yousu married off his daughter Da Ji .

Etymology 2

References

• “女”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. woman
2. daughter

Readings

• Go-on: にょ (nyo, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: じょ (jo, Jōyō)^{←ぢよ (dyo, historical)}
• Kan’yō-on: にょう (nyō, Jōyō ^†)
• Kun: おんな (onna, 女, Jōyō)^{←をんな (wonna, 女, historical)←をみな (womina, 女, ancient)}; め (me, 女, Jōyō); むすめ (musume, 女); なんじ (nanji, 女)^{←なんぢ (nandi, 女, historical)}
• Nanori: おな (ona); た (ta); つき (tsuki); な (na)

Compounds