女 (nǚ) is a Chinese character meaning “woman”. It is written from ㇛ and ㇒ and ㇐, and takes 3 strokes.
Build the character for “woman; female”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
㇛ + ㇒ + ㇐
Overlapping structure
- ㇛ left-falling stroke turning into a dot unknown
- ㇒ left-falling stroke unknown
- ㇐ horizontal stroke unknown
Structure from: Unicode U+5973 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (three crossing strokes: 撇点 / 撇 / 横)
Memory aid
Start with the bent stroke (㇛) that dips left then kicks right, cross it with a left-falling stroke (㇒), then tie both down with one long horizontal (㇐).
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
3 strokes
In real words
- 女人nǚ rénwoman女 = nǚHSK 1
- 女儿nǚ érdaughter女 = nǚHSK 1
- 仙女xiān nǚfairy; female immortal女 = nǚ
- 侄女zhí nǚniece (brother's daughter)女 = nǚ
- 女仆nǚ púmaid; female servant女 = nǚ
- 女巫nǚ wūwitch; sorceress女 = nǚ
- 妇女fù nǚwomen女 = nǚ
- 妓女jì nǚprostitute女 = nǚ
- 子女zǐ nǚsons and daughters; one's children女 = nǚspoken aszí nǚ
- 女婴nǚ yīngbaby girl女 = nǚ
- 女性nǚ xìngfemale; woman; the female sex女 = nǚ
- 女皇nǚ huángempress regnant; queen女 = nǚ
- 淑女shū nǚa fair and virtuous lady; a lady女 = nǚ
- 闺女guī nǚdaughter; unmarried young woman女 = nǚspoken asguī nü
Go deeper
All readings
woman; female
woman; female; girl; daughter
女性；女子。也指女儿。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 女人nǚ rénwoman女 = nǚHSK 1
- 女儿nǚ érdaughter女 = nǚHSK 1
- 仙女xiān nǚfairy; female immortal女 = nǚ
- 侄女zhí nǚniece (brother's daughter)女 = nǚ
- 女仆nǚ púmaid; female servant女 = nǚ
- 女巫nǚ wūwitch; sorceress女 = nǚ
- 妇女fù nǚwomen女 = nǚ
- 妓女jì nǚprostitute女 = nǚ
- 子女zǐ nǚsons and daughters; one's children女 = nǚspoken aszí nǚ
- 女婴nǚ yīngbaby girl女 = nǚ
- 女性nǚ xìngfemale; woman; the female sex女 = nǚ
- 女皇nǚ huángempress regnant; queen女 = nǚ
- 淑女shū nǚa fair and virtuous lady; a lady女 = nǚ
- 闺女guī nǚdaughter; unmarried young woman女 = nǚspoken asguī nü
Easy to confuse with
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 女 mean?
女 (nǚ) means woman; female; girl; daughter.
How do you pronounce 女?
It is pronounced nǚ.
What parts is 女 made of?
㇛ and ㇒ and ㇐. The recorded source is: Unicode U+5973 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (three crossing strokes: 撇点 / 撇 / 横). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 女 have?
3. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 女?
女. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 女?
Common ones are 女人 and 女儿. The reading of 女 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.