姬

Alternative forms
The character commonly used in Japanese is. Note that the Korean form is written with as the right component, which is the historical form found in the.

Glyph origin
.

Etymology 1

 * Zhou dynastic surname
 * Its eponym was traditionally held to the river, which has been identified with the river in . However,  points out that "there seems to be no record of a Ji River outside the myth" of the.


 * Instead, he suggests an etymological connection between "the two intermarrying moieties, a ruling clan and its collateral, wife-supplying counterpart": and . He also points to other word-pairs, including  < *-əɰʔ and  < *-aŋʔ, which display the phonetic correspondences: *-ɰ vs. *-ŋ as well *-ə- vs. *-a- (ibid.)


 * lady
 * According to (apud ):


 * "gay"
 * Homophonous with or 🇨🇬 (in Cantonese) and already carrying feminine connotations. Probably influenced by 🇨🇬.

Definitions

 * , used by the ruling family of the House of Zhou
 * 1)  lady
 * 2)  beauty
 * 3)  concubine
 * , with a feminine connotation; lesbian
 * 1)  lady
 * 2)  beauty
 * 3)  concubine
 * , with a feminine connotation; lesbian
 * 1)  beauty
 * 2)  concubine
 * , with a feminine connotation; lesbian
 * , with a feminine connotation; lesbian
 * , with a feminine connotation; lesbian

Readings
Note: the nanori readings and  are so-called.

Hanja

 * 1) woman