乙女

Chinese

		2nd heavenly stem	female; woman; daughter
simp. and trad. (乙女)		乙	女

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 乙女 (otome).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yǐnǚ

  (Zhuyin): ㄧˇ ㄋㄩˇ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: yǐnǚ [Phonetic: yínǚ]
    • Zhuyin: ㄧˇ ㄋㄩˇ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yyineu
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yǐnyǔ
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /i²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ny²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/

Noun

乙女

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

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Japanese

Kanji in this term
乙	女
おと Grade: S	め Grade: 1
kun’yomi

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”) +‎ 女 (me, “girl, female”). Contrasts with 男 (otoko, “man”, original meaning of “boy”). See also 娘 (musume, “daughter”), 姫 (hime, “princess”).

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) おと​め [òtóꜜmè] (Nakadaka – [2])
  • IPA^(key): [o̞to̞me̞]

Alternative forms

• 少女 (less common)

Noun

乙女(おとめ) • (otome)  (historical kana をとめ)

1. daughter
2. virgin, maiden
3. little girl, young lady

   命(いのち)短(みじか)し、恋(こい)せよ乙(おと)女(め)

   inochi mijikashi, koiseyo otome

   Life is short; fall in love, young woman.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 乙(おと)女(め)座(ざ) (Otomeza): Virgo
• 乙(おと)女(め)桜(ざくら) (otomezakura): fairy primrose
• 乙(おと)女(め)心(ごころ) (otomegokoro): girl's feeling
• 乙(おと)女(め)チック (otome-chikku): girly
• 早(さ)乙(おと)女(め) (saotome): young girl
• 天(あま)津(つ)乙(おと)女(め) (amatsuotome): celestial maiden

Related terms

• 少(しょう)女(じょ) (shōjo)