女服 (nǚ fú) — women's clothing; female attire

Definition

noun
women's clothingfemale attire
Measure word · 件

Examples

  • 女服。
    Tā xǐ huan mǎi nǚ fú.
    She likes to buy women's clothing.
  • 女服。
    Zhè jiàn nǚ fú hěn piào liang.
    This piece of women's clothing is very pretty.
  • 女服。
    Zhè jiā diàn de nǚ fú hěn duō.
    This store has a lot of women's clothing.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

女nǚfemale
服fúclothing

女 gives female, and 服 gives clothing, so the sense is women's attire.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

女 shows a woman with folded arms, kneeling or standing. In the modern form the figure faces right, and the small enclosed part is what is left of one arm.

Open 女 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
凡凡fántray
Sound part声符shēngfú
𠬝
𠬝𠬝服fú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In 服, the part 𠬝 was the original picture for 'to subdue'; the added left part 凡, a tray, later changed shape.

Open 服 →

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