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Woman

On’yomiじょ・にょ・にょう
Kun’yomiおんな・め
MeaningsWoman, Female
3 strokes #150 most common Grade 1 Radical woman
書き順 · Stroke order

How to write 女

Stroke order is not decoration — it determines how the character looks handwritten and how dictionaries index it.

3 strokes
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部首 · Radical

The radical of 女

Radical 38 of 214
Woman

The radical is the part a paper dictionary files a kanji under, and it usually hints at meaning. 女 is filed under (woman) — radical number 38 of the 214 in the Kangxi system.

Other kanji built on 女

練習 · Practice

Drill 女 right now

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Woman じょ・にょ・にょう おんな・め
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熟語 · In real words

Words that use 女

Kanji are almost never met alone. These are the most common words built from this character, ordered by how often they actually appear in Japanese.

女子 じょし woman; girl
女性 じょせい woman; female; feminine gender
男女 だんじょ men and women; man and woman; both sexes
彼女 かのじょ she; her; girlfriend
長女 ちょうじょ eldest daughter; first-born daughter
小女 しょうじょ girl (usu. between 7 and 17); young lady; female between 17 and 20 years old (ritsuryō per
少女 しょうじょ girl (usu. between 7 and 17); young lady; female between 17 and 20 years old (ritsuryō per
女優 じょゆう actress; female actor
女子大 じょしだい women's college; women's university
女王 じょおう queen; female champion
名乗り · Name readings

How 女 is read in names

Japanese names use readings that appear nowhere else in the language. These are 女's — the reason personal and place names are so hard to read even for native speakers.

おなつき
同音 · Sound-alikes

Kanji that sound like 女

Japanese has far more kanji than syllables, so one reading is shared by many characters. These are the ones you will confuse with 女 — learn them together, not separately.

地名 · In place names

Japanese towns written with 女

Place names are where kanji readings get strange — and where you meet this character in the wild.

画数 · 3 strokes

Other 3-stroke kanji

Useful when looking a character up by stroke count — and a common source of visual mix-ups.

頻度 · Frequency

Next in the frequency list

女 is the 150th most common kanji in written Japanese. Learning in frequency order is the fastest route to reading real text.

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質問 · Questions

About the kanji 女

What does the kanji 女 mean?

女 means Woman, Female. It is the 150th most common kanji in written Japanese.

How do you read the kanji 女?

女 is read on'yomi (Chinese-derived) じょ、にょ、にょう; kun'yomi (native Japanese) おんな、め.

How many strokes does 女 have?

女 is written with 3 strokes. The animated diagram on this page shows the correct order.

What level is the kanji 女?

Japanese schoolchildren learn it in grade 1.

What is the radical of 女?

The radical of 女 is 女 (woman), radical number 38 of the 214 Kangxi radicals. The radical is the component a dictionary files the character under, and it usually points at the character's meaning.

What words use the kanji 女?

Common words written with 女 include 女子 (じょし, woman; girl); 女性 (じょせい, woman; female; feminine gender); 男女 (だんじょ, men and women; man and woman; both sexes).

Which kanji sound the same as 女?

女 shares a reading with 助 (じょ), 除 (じょ), 序 (じょ), 徐 (じょ), 如 (じょ), among others. Same-sounding kanji are one of the most common sources of confusion in Japanese.

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