女

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See also: タ, ヌ, ㄆ, ㄡ, 又, 夂, 夊, 夕, 支, 攴, 攵, 文, 歹, 歺, and 𡚦

Translingual[edit]

Stroke order
女-bw.png
Stroke order
女-order.gif

Etymology[edit]

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 (“mother”), which has developed similarly, but also includes dots for nipples and has retained both breasts.

女 女 女 女
Oracle bone script Bronze inscriptions Large seal script Small seal script
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Han character[edit]

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See images of
Radical 38 女

女 (radical 38 女+0, 3 strokes, cangjie input 女 (V), four-corner 40400)

  1. Kangxi radical 38

Usage notes[edit]

Generally used only for humans. Female animals are typically described as 母 instead.

Antonyms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

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

Chinese[edit]

-
simp. and trad.
 女

Pronunciation[edit]

Middle Chinese pronunciation (女, reconstructed)
Character (女), Pronunciation 1/2

Initial: 娘 (12)
Final: 魚
Division: III

Openness: Open
Tone: Rising (X)

 Fanqie: 尼吕切
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 Bernard
Karlgren		 Li
Rong		 Pan
Wuyun		 Edwin
Pulleyblank		 Wang
Li		 Shao
Rongfen
/ɳɨʌX/ /ni̯woX/ /niɔX/ /ɳiɔX/ /ɳɨə̆X/ /nĭoX/ /niɔX/
Character (女), Pronunciation 2/2

Initial: 娘 (12)
Final: 魚
Division: III

Openness: Open
Tone: Departing (H)

 Fanqie: 尼據切
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 Bernard
Karlgren		 Li
Rong		 Pan
Wuyun		 Edwin
Pulleyblank		 Wang
Li		 Shao
Rongfen
/ɳɨʌH/ /ni̯woH/ /niɔH/ /ɳiɔH/ /ɳɨə̆H/ /nĭoH/ /niɔH/
Old Chinese pronunciation (女, reconstructed)
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character Modern Beijing
(Pinyin)		 Middle Chinese Old Chinese English
女 nǚ ‹ nrjoX › /*nraʔ/ female
女 nǜ ‹ nrjoH › /*nraʔ-s/ give as a wife

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

  • Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
  • Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
  • Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
  • Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;
  • Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character No. Phonetic
component		 Rime
group		 Rime
subdivision		 Corresponding
MC rime		 Old Chinese Notes
女 9616 女 魚 0 /*naʔ/
女 9618 女 魚 0 女 /*nas/

Noun[edit]

女

  1. (Beginning Mandarin) woman
    女人  ―  nǚrén  ―  woman
    女的  ―  nǚde  ―  woman
    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? [Pinyin]
    Where is the ladies' lavatory please?
  2. (for people) 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
  3. daughter
    女兒 / 女儿  ―  nǚér  ―  daughter
  4. Kangxi radical 38 （woman)
Synonyms[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

女

  1. (archaic) thou (variant of 汝)

Proper noun[edit]

  1. (astronomy) the Girl, a Chinese constellation near Aquarius, 10th of the Twenty-Eight Mansions (二十八宿) and part of the Black Turtle (玄武).
Hypernyms[edit]
  • 玄武 (“The Black Turtle (constellation)”)
  • 二十八宿 (“The Twenty-Eight Mansions (constellation)”)
Compounds[edit]
Derived terms

References[edit]

  • "女" (in Mandarin/English), MDBG English to Chinese dictionary ( Based on CC-CEDICT ). URL accessed on 2014-03-20.
  • "Jukuu" (in Mandarin/English), Jukuu. URL accessed on 2014-03-20.

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

See also:
女

(grade 1 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings[edit]

Compounds[edit]

Compounds

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Japanese. /womi1na/ → /womina/ → /omina/. The initial /wo/ expressed "small, youth" and contrasted with /o/ "grown, old" (as in 嫗 (omina) "old woman"). The medial /mi/ is cognate with 女 (me, “female, woman”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

女 (hiragana おみな, romaji omina)

  1. (archaic) a young woman
  2. (archaic) a woman

Etymology 2[edit]

From earlier /womina/: /womina/ → /woɴna/ → /oɴna/.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

女 (hiragana おんな, romaji onna)

  1. a woman
Usage notes[edit]

This has superseded omina, and is now one of the standard Japanese words for woman.

Etymology 3[edit]

From Old Japanese. /me1/ → /me/

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

女 (hiragana め, romaji me)

  1. female
  2. woman
  3. wife
Usage notes[edit]

Used more in compounds than on its own.

Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1998, NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK, ISBN 978-4-14-011112-3

See also[edit]

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

女 (nyeo(yeo))
Eumhun:

  • Sound (hangeul): 녀(여) (McCune-Reischauer: nyŏ(yŏ), Yale: nye(nye))
  • Name (hangeul): 계집 (revised: gyejip, McCune-Reischauer: kyejip, Yale: kyeycip)
  1. (계집 녀, gyejip-): (vulgar) female, woman, wife.

Vietnamese[edit]

Han character[edit]

女 (nữa, lỡ, nhỡ, nớ, nợ, nỡ, nữ, nự)

  1. This entry needs a definition. Please add one, then remove {{defn}}.

References[edit]

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