女

Derived characters

 * Appendix:Chinese radical/女, 奻, 㚣, 姦

Glyph origin

 * 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, which has developed similarly, but also includes dots for nipples and has retained both breasts. Compare.

Etymology 1
From. Compare 🇨🇬.

Pronunciation 2 is an exoactive derivation of pronunciation 1.

Definitions

 * 1) woman;  female
 * 2) daughter
 * 3)  girl; young female
 * 4)  girlfriend
 * 5)  queen
 * 6)  the Girl a Chinese constellation near Aquarius, 10th of the Twenty-Eight Mansions and part of the Black Turtle
 * 1) daughter
 * 2)  girl; young female
 * 3)  girlfriend
 * 4)  queen
 * 5)  the Girl a Chinese constellation near Aquarius, 10th of the Twenty-Eight Mansions and part of the Black Turtle
 * 1)  girl; young female
 * 2)  girlfriend
 * 3)  queen
 * 4)  the Girl a Chinese constellation near Aquarius, 10th of the Twenty-Eight Mansions and part of the Black Turtle
 * 1)  queen
 * 2)  the Girl a Chinese constellation near Aquarius, 10th of the Twenty-Eight Mansions and part of the Black Turtle
 * 1)  the Girl a Chinese constellation near Aquarius, 10th of the Twenty-Eight Mansions and part of the Black Turtle

Definitions

 * 1)  to give one's daughter in marriage; to give as wife

Kanji

 * 1) woman
 * 2) daughter

Etymology 1
→ * → →  →

Shift from womina → omina. See the entry for further details.

Now one of the standard Japanese words for "a woman".

Noun

 * 1) a female person
 * 2)  a woman, an adult female
 * 3) a wife
 * 4) a mistress, concubine
 * 5) a maid
 * 6) a prostitute
 * 7) a woman's appearance or quality
 * 8) a feminine object
 * 9) the object in a pairing which is smaller, gentler, etc. than the other
 * 10)  girlfriend
 * 1) a prostitute
 * 2) a woman's appearance or quality
 * 3) a feminine object
 * 4) the object in a pairing which is smaller, gentler, etc. than the other
 * 5)  girlfriend
 * 1)  girlfriend

Etymology 2
→ * →

From.

The initial expressed "small, youth" and contrasted with  "grown, old" (as in ), while the medial  is cognate with. According to Frellesvig (2010), proto-Japonic became Old Japanese  in final position and  elsewhere; analogous with PJ, which became OJ  in final position and  elsewhere (though PJ  and  also existed, compare  's two readings  &  in Western & Eastern Old Japanese, respectively (Vovin, 2017)).

Noun

 * 1)  a young woman
 * 2)  a woman

Etymology 3
→ * →

From, from.

Appears to be distinct from.

Noun

 * 1) a woman
 * 2) a wife
 * 3) * c. 890,  (page 3)
 * 4) a female
 * 1) * c. 890,  (page 3)
 * 2) a female
 * 1) a female
 * 1) a female
 * 1) a female

Usage notes

 * Used more in compounds than on its own.

Etymology 4
→ * → →  →  →

Variant shift from womina → omina (see above).

Noun

 * 1)  a young woman

Etymology 5
→ →

Shift from onna (see above).

Noun

 * 1)  a young woman

Etymology 6
→ →

Long-pronounced form of ona (see above).

Noun

 * 1)  a young woman

Etymology 7
→

From.

Noun

 * 1) a woman, especially an actress or a prostitute

Proper noun

 * 1)  the  constellation, one of the

Etymology 1
From.

Etymology 2
From  /.