Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

女: woman, female

JLPT N53 strokesGrade 1Your ink: 白 Not met
3 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Shang
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Oracle bone: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Bronze and small seal: Academia Sinica 小學堂, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Five readings, and the words that use each

ジョjo · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 女性じょせいfemale
  • 女子学生じょしがくせいfemale student
  • 彼女かのじょshe, girl friend
  • 長女ちょうじょeldest daughter

ニョnyo · on'yomi

  • 女人にょにんwomen [archaic]

ニョウnyou · on'yomi

  • 女房にょうぼうwife

おんなonna · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 女おんなwoman
  • 女の子おんなのこgirl

めme · kun'yomi

  • 女々しいめめしいeffeminate

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Pictogram (象形)

A woman with folded arms kneeling or standing.

Source: Wiktionary, 女 (rev. 92739223), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Grace and strength! This is the radical of the feminine, representing mothers, daughters, and the many roles women have played throughout history.”
More in the 女 woman story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

女 gives its sound to

The family reading is ジョ (jo). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Also read ジョ

7 kanji share this on'yomi

Also read ニョ

1 kanji shares this on'yomi

Also read ニョウ

2 kanji share this on'yomi
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · nǚ

Same form: 女 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
女 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
女 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin nǚ most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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