Radical 38

女
女
女 (U+5973) "woman, female"
Pronunciations
Pinyin:	nǚ
Bopomofo:	ㄋㄩˇ
Gwoyeu Romatzyh:	neu
Wade–Giles:	nü3
Cantonese Yale:	néuih
Jyutping:	neoi5
Pe̍h-ōe-jī:	lú
Japanese Kana:	ジョ jo (on'yomi); おんな onna (kun'yomi)
Sino-Korean:	녀 (여) nyeo
Names
Chinese name(s):	(Left) 女字旁 nǚzìpáng; (Bottom) 女字底 nǚzìdǐ
Japanese name(s):	女偏/おんなへん onnahen
Hangul:	계집 gyejip
Stroke order animation

Radical 38 or radical woman (女部) meaning "woman" or "female" is one of the 31 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals total) composed of three strokes.

In the Kangxi Dictionary, there are 681 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical.

女 is also the 56th indexing component in the Table of Indexing Chinese Character Components predominantly adopted by Simplified Chinese dictionaries published in mainland China.

Evolution

Oracle bone script character
Bronze script character
Large seal script character
Small seal script character

Derived characters

Strokes	Characters
+0	女
+2	奴奵奶
+3	奷奸 (also SC form of 姦) 她奺奻奼好奾奿妀妁如妃妄妅妆^SC (=妝) 妇^SC (=婦) 妈^SC (=媽)
+4	妉妊妋妌妎妏妐妑妒妓妔妕妖妗妘妙妚妛^JP (variant form of 媸 in Chinese) 妜妝妞妟妠妡妢妣妤妥妦妧妨妩^SC (=嫵) 妪^SC (=嫗) 妫^SC (=媯)
+5	妬^JP (=妒) 妭妮妯妰妱妲妳妴妵妶妷 (=姪 / 逸 -> 辵) 妸 (=婀) 妹妺妻妼妽妾妿姀姁姂姃姄姅姆姇姈姉^JP (=姊) 姊始姌姍姎姏姐姑姒姓委姕姖姗^SC (=姍)
+6	妍姘姙 (=妊) 姚姛姜姝姞姟姠姡姢 (=娟) 姣姤姥姦姧 (=姦) 姨姩姪姫 (also JP form of 姬) 姭姮姯姰姱姲姳姴姵姶姷姸 (=妍) 姹^SC (=奼) 姺姻姼姽姾姿娀威娂娃娅^SC (=婭) 娆^SC (=嬈) 娇^SC (=嬌) 娈^SC (=孌)
+7	姬娉娊娋娌娍娎娏娐娑娒娓娔娕娖娗娘娙娚 (=嫐 / 喃 -> 口 / 甥 -> 生) 娛娜娝娞娟娠娡娢娣娤娥娦娧娨娩娪娫娭娮娯^JP (=娛) 娰娱^SC (=娛) 娲^SC (=媧) 娳娴^SC (=嫻) 娽
+8	娬娵娶娷娸娹娺娻娼娾娿 (=婀) 婀婁婂婃婄婅婆婇婈婉婊婋婌婍婎婏 (=嬎) 婐婑 (=婐) 婒婓婔 (=婓) 婕婖婗婘 (=眷 -> 目) 婙 (=婧) 婚婛婜婝婞婟婠婡婢婣 (=姻) 婤婥婦婧婨婩婪婫婬 (=淫 -> 水) 婭婮婯 (=麗 -> 鹿) 婰婱婲婳^SC (=嫿) 婴^SC (=嬰) 婵^SC (=嬋) 婶^SC (=嬸)
+9	婷婸婹 (=偠 -> 人) 婺婻婼婽婾 (=偷 -> 人 / 愉 -> 心) 婿媀媁媂媃媄 (=美 -> 羊) 媅媆媇 (=親 -> 見) 媈媉媊媋媌媍 (=婦) 媎 (=姐) 媏媑媒媓媔媕媖媗媘媙媚媛媜媝媞媟媠媡媢媣媤媥媦媧媨媩媪^SC/HK (=媼) 媫 (=婕) 媬媭^SC (=嬃) 媮 (=偷 -> 人 / 愉 -> 心) 媯嫏
+10	媐媰媱媲媳媴媵媶媷媸媹媺 (=美 -> 羊) 媻媼媽媾媿 (=愧 -> 心) 嫀 (=姺) 嫁嫂嫃嫄嫅嫆嫇嫈嫉嫊嫋 (=裊 -> 衣) 嫌嫍嫎嫐嫑嫒^SC (=嬡) 嫓 (=媲) 嫔^SC (=嬪)
+11	嫕嫖嫗嫘嫙嫚嫛嫜嫝嫞嫟 (=暱 -> 日) 嫠嫡嫢嫣嫤嫥嫦嫧嫨 (=戁 -> 心) 嫩嫪嫫嫬嫭嫮 (=嫭) 嫯嫰 (=嫩) 嫱^SC (=嬙) 嫲
+12	嫳嫴嫵嫶嫷嫸嫹 (=媌) 嫺 (=嫻) 嫻嫼嫽嫾嫿嬀 (=媯) 嬁嬂嬃嬄嬅嬆嬇嬈嬉嬊嬋嬌嬍 (=美 -> 羊) 嬎嬏
+13	嬐嬑嬒嬓嬔嬕嬖嬗嬘嬙嬚嬛嬜嬝 (=裊 -> 衣) 嬞嬟嬠嬡嬢^JP (=孃) 嬴
+14	嬣嬤嬥嬦嬧嬨嬩嬪嬫嬬嬭 (=奶) 嬮嬯嬰嬱嬲嬳嬵嬶嬷^SC (=嬤)
+15	嬸嬺嬻嬼嬽
+16	嬹嬾 (=懶 -> 心) 嬿
+17	孀孁孂孃孄孅孆 (=嬰)
+18	孇孈孉
+19	孊孋孌
+20	孍
+21	孎孏 (=懶 -> 心)

Controversies over sexism

Some feminists have claimed that many Chinese characters under radical woman are pejorative, 奴 (slave), 妖 (demon), 妒 (JP: 妬, envy), 姦 (Simp.: 奸, rape, traitor), 嫌 (dislike) for example, and learning and using them may unconsciously lead to misogyny.^[1] Some have even proposed a reform of these characters.^[2]

In 2010, a mainland Chinese male lawyer posted an essay online, in which he criticized 16 Chinese characters for their sexist implication. The 16 characters were 娱 (娛, entertainment), 耍 (to play with, usually classified under radical 126 而), 婪 (greedy), 嫉 (envy), 妒 (envy), 嫌 (dislike), 佞 (flattery), 妄 (presumptuous), 妖 (demon), 奴 (slave), 妓 (prostitute), 娼 (whore), 奸 (姦, rape, traitor), 姘 (extramarital sex), 婊 (bitch), and 嫖 (to visit prostitutes). He also proposed a reform of some characters, e.g. replace 奸 with a newly created Chinese character "犭行" (犭: dog, usually associated with monsters or uncivilized actions; 行: behaviors; the proposed character therefore implies rape is a monstrous behavior), believing that the change would reduce rape cases.^[3] Opponents argued that the new characters were historically unsound; that even if they were adopted, they would remain specious and would not effectively improve female's social status. They also pointed out that improvements in legal and social culture aspects were the actual remedy of sexism.^[3]^[4]

In 2015, an exhibition in Beijing entitled "姦: Cultural Codes of Gender Violence" (姦：性別暴力伤害的文化符号) organized by 65 artists was canceled by the authorities. Still, the idea of this exhibition made its way through international media outlets. Tong Yujie (佟玉洁), the exhibition's academic convener, questioned in her writing: "Why did one woman become three, and such a symbol of political and moral imagination and an object of enmity in traditional Chinese society and political theory?"^[5]

A 2014 study done by Wang Yuping from Anhui University's School of Chinese Language and Literature analyzed all Chinese characters with the woman radical in a concise edition of Hanyu Da Cidian (汉语大词典简编). The result shows that among these characters, there are 56 with negative meaning, 70 with positive meaning, and 184 are neutral. Nonetheless, the author believed that some of these categories suggested discrimination in traditional Chinese culture.^[6]

Similar controversies also exist in "gendered" European languages which have divisions between masculine and feminine terms. This phenomenon is called linguistic sexism.

Character

Alone the character is one of the Kyōiku kanji or Kanji taught in elementary school in Japan.^[7] It is a first grade kanji.^[7]

Literature

Fazzioli, Edoardo (1987). Chinese calligraphy : from pictograph to ideogram : the history of 214 essential Chinese/Japanese characters. calligraphy by Rebecca Hon Ko. New York: Abbeville Press. ISBN 0-89659-774-1.
Lunde, Ken (Jan 5, 2009). "Appendix J: Japanese Character Sets" (PDF). CJKV Information Processing: Chinese, Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese Computing (Second ed.). Sebastopol, Calif.: O'Reilly Media. ISBN 978-0-596-51447-1.

References

^ 邱慕天 (2018-09-10). "漢字歧視女性《經濟學人》認應重新造字" [Chinese characters are sexist. The Economist proposed a reform of Chinese characters] (in Chinese (Taiwan)). 台灣醒報.
^ 黄玉顺 (1994-03-04). "汉字里的性别歧视" [Sexism in Chinese characters]. 中国儒学网 (in Chinese (China)).
^ ^a ^b "律师认为16个汉字歧视女性建议奸改为犭行" [Lawyer pointed out 16 sexist Chinese characters, proposed replacing 奸 with 犭行] (in Chinese (China)). 现代快报. 2010-01-21 – via 新浪新闻.
^ 程俊 (2010-01-22). ""奸"改为"犭行"可减少强奸犯罪为何很傻很天真" [Why it is naive to think replacing "奸" with "犭行" would reduce rape] (in Chinese (Singapore)). 联合早报.
^ Didi Kirsten Tatlow (2015-12-02). "Enduring Prejudices of Gender Woven Into Chinese Language". The New York Times.
^ 汪宇平 (2014). "浅谈汉语中的女部字与中国文化的性别歧视" [A Brief Discussion Chinese Characters under Radical Woman and Gender Discrimination in Chinese Culture]. 安徽文学 (in Chinese (China)) (372): 16–17.
^ ^a ^b "The Kyoiku Kanji (教育漢字) - Kanshudo". www.kanshudo.com. Archived from the original on March 24, 2022. Retrieved 2023-05-06.