女 nǚ — woman; female; daughter (in 女儿)

Pinyin

• nǚ (third tone, dipping)

woman; female; daughter (in 女儿)

Character breakdown

• 女shape partA single pictograph of a kneeling figure with folded arms.

Mnemonic

A person kneeling with the arms folded in front — the formal seated posture of early portraits. The long horizontal sweeping across the middle is those arms, and it is written last, which is what holds the character together. Note the vowel: nǚ has the ü of 绿 and 去, not the u of 努.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

Words containing 女

• 女nǚ (third tone, dipping)female, woman’s
• 女人nǚrén (third tone, dipping)woman, adult female
• 女儿/女兒nǚ (third tone, dipping) ér (second tone, rising)daughter
• 女性nǚ (third tone, dipping) xìng (fourth tone, falling)woman
• 女生nǚ (third tone, dipping) shēng (first tone, high and level)schoolgirl
• 美女měi (third tone, dipping) nǚ (third tone, dipping)beautiful woman
• 女士nǚ (third tone, dipping) shì (fourth tone, falling)lady
• 女子nǚ (third tone, dipping) zǐ (third tone, dipping)woman
• 妇女/婦女fù (fourth tone, falling) nǚ (third tone, dipping)woman
• 女朋友nǚ (third tone, dipping) péng (second tone, rising) you (neutral tone)girlfriend
• 少女shào (fourth tone, falling) nǚ (third tone, dipping)girl
• 男女nán (second tone, rising) nǚ (third tone, dipping)male-female
• 子女zǐ (third tone, dipping) nǚ (third tone, dipping)children; sons and daughters
• 儿女/兒女ér (second tone, rising) nǚ (third tone, dipping)children; sons and daughters
• 仙女xiān (first tone, high and level) nǚ (third tone, dipping)fairy
• 孙女/孫女sūn (first tone, high and level) nǚ (third tone, dipping)son's daughter
• 女婿nǚ (third tone, dipping) xu (neutral tone)daughter's husband; son-in-law
• 母女mǔ (third tone, dipping) nǚ (third tone, dipping)mother and daughter
• 父女fù (fourth tone, falling) nǚ (third tone, dipping)father and daughter
• 女孩儿/女孩兒nǚ (third tone, dipping) hái (second tone, rising) r (neutral tone)erhua variant of 女孩
• 闺女/閨女guī (first tone, high and level) ˙nü (neutral tone)maiden; unmarried woman

Radical 女 — other characters

• 好hǎo (third tone, dipping) hào (fourth tone, falling)good, fine, well; easy to do; (hào) to be fond of, to like
• 妈/媽mā (first tone, high and level)mother, mum (chiefly in 妈妈); a form of address for an older married woman
• 姐jiě (third tone, dipping)elder sister; a young woman (in 小姐)
• 妹mèi (fourth tone, falling)younger sister