女
女 — Woman
woman, female
On’yomiジョ (jo)
On’yomiニョ (nyo)
On’yomiニョウ (nyou)
Kun’yomiおんな (onna)
Kun’yomiめ (me)
Stroke order (3 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 女
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 女子 | じょし joshi | woman; girl |
| 女性 | じょせい josei | woman; female; feminine gender |
| 女 | おんな onna | woman; female; female lover |
| 男女 | だんじょ danjo | men and women; man and woman; both sexes |
| 彼女 | かのじょ kanojo | she; her; girlfriend |
| 女優 | じょゆう joyuu | actress; female actor |
Study notes
女 is a JLPT N5 kanji written with 3 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 1), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #151 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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