Chinese character for woman: 女 (nǚ)
The Chinese character for woman is 女 (nǚ). It means woman or female and appears in 女人 (nǚrén, woman) and 女孩 (nǚhái, girl). It is one of the basic pictographs of Chinese.
How 女 is built
女 is a pictograph of a woman kneeling with her arms crossed in front of her, a respectful posture in ancient times. As a part of other characters it marks women, family roles and some qualities, as in 妈 (mother), 姐 (older sister), 好 (good) and 安 (peace: a woman under a roof). It has three strokes and is identical in simplified and traditional Chinese.
女 nǚ · female
女 is not built from smaller parts; it is written with 3 strokes.
Origin hint: A woman turned to the side (from the Make Me a Hanzi dataset; treat as a memory aid where history is uncertain)
How 女 is used
Before you use it as a tattoo or design: 女 alone reads like a 'female' label, so words like 女王 (queen) or a name are better tattoo choices.
Questions
What is the Chinese character for woman?
女 (nǚ) means “woman”.
How do you pronounce 女?
女 is pronounced nǚ.