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

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