女
female; woman
HSK level
- Pinyin
- nǚ
- Part of speech
- adjective
- Level
- HSK 2
- Strokes
- 3
- Register
- neutral
Stroke order for 女
女 is written with 3 strokes. The animation replays automatically.
What does 女 mean?
女 (nǚ) means 'female.'
Like 男 (nán, 'male'), it functions mainly as a modifier rather than a standalone noun: 女人 (nǚ rén, 'woman'), 女孩 (nǚ hái, 'girl'), 女生 (nǚ shēng, 'female student'), 女朋友 (nǚ péngyou, 'girlfriend'). On signs and forms, 女 marks the female side: women's restroom doors say 女, gender checkboxes list 男 / 女. The character is also one of the most important radicals in Chinese, appearing on the left of many family and people-related characters: 妈 (mom), 妹 (younger sister), 姐 (older sister), 她 (she), 好 (good — originally 'a woman with a child').
The 'ü' in nǚ is pronounced like the German 'ü' or French 'u' — round your lips to say 'oo' but keep your tongue in the position for 'ee.' Don't say 一个女 for 'a woman' — say 一个女人 or 一个女的 (yí ge nǚ de, colloquial 'a woman').
Example sentences
她是一个女老师。
Tā shì yí ge nǚ lǎoshī.
She is a female teacher.
neutral
我有一个女朋友。
Wǒ yǒu yí ge nǚ péngyou.
I have a girlfriend.
spoken
这个班有十五个女生。
Zhège bān yǒu shíwǔ ge nǚ shēng.
This class has fifteen female students.
neutral
女厕所在二楼。
Nǚ cèsuǒ zài èr lóu.
The women's restroom is on the second floor.
neutral
他们的女儿很可爱。
Tāmen de nǚ'ér hěn kě'ài.
Their daughter is very cute.
spoken
Common phrases with 女
Synonyms
女的 is the casual spoken way to say 'the female one / a woman,' turning the modifier 女 into a noun phrase. 女 alone can't stand as a noun in conversation; 女的 fills that role.
女性 is the formal word for 'female / female gender,' used in surveys, medical contexts, and writing. 女 is the everyday modifier; 女性 is the abstract noun.
Don't confuse 女 with
男 is the opposite — 'male.' The two appear together on signs (restrooms, forms). 男 has 田 + 力 ('strength in the field'); 女 is the kneeling-person pictograph.
母 (mǔ) means 'mother' and looks somewhat similar to 女 (it adds two dots inside). Different pronunciation, different meaning: 女 is 'female' generally; 母 is specifically 'mother' (as in 母亲 'mother').
如 contains 女 on the left but means 'as, like, if.' The 女 here is just a phonetic component — different word entirely.
FAQ
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