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宫女 (gōng nǚ) — palace maid (in imperial China)

Definition

Female servant living inside an imperial palace in ancient China, serving the emperor, empress, or concubines. A specific historical role — not a general word for maid.

noun
palace maid (in imperial China)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 宫女。
    Zhè xiē gōng nǚ měi tiān dōu yào zhào gù huáng hòu.
    These palace maids take care of the empress every day.
  • 宫女。
    Gǔ dài huáng gōng lǐ yǒu hěn duō gōng nǚ.
    There were many palace maids in ancient imperial palaces.
  • 宫女。
    Zhè wèi gōng nǚ zài gōng lǐ zhù le shí nián.
    This palace maid lived in the palace for ten years.

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.

宫gōngpalace
女nǚwoman

宫 means palace and 女 means woman; together a woman serving in a palace.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 宮; 宫 is its simplified writing.

  • 宀宀mián
  • 呂呂lǚ

The traditional form 宮 is built from 宀 and 呂.

Open 宫 →

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 →
Appears in
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