女人家 (nǚ rén jiā) — (colloquial) woman, womenfolk

Definition

Colloquial, often rural or old-fashioned term for 'woman / womenfolk' — softer and more folksy than the neutral 女人.

noun
(colloquial) womanwomenfolk

Examples

  • 女人家。
    Tā shì yí gè hěn néng gàn de nǚ rén jiā.
    She is a very capable woman.
  • 女人家。
    Wǒ men cūn lǐ de nǚ rén jiā dōu xǐ huan zuò zài yì qǐ liáo tiān.
    The women in our village all like to sit together and chat.
  • ，女人家。
    Tā jià dào wǒ men jiā hòu, jiù chéng le wǒ men jiā de nǚ rén jiā.
    After she married into our family, she became the woman of our household.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

女人woman
女nǚfemale人rénperson
偏正Modifier + head
家jiācolloquial ending

女人 refers to a woman, and 家 gives a colloquial sense of a woman or womenfolk.

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 →

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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
宀宀miánroof
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢑓
𢑓𢑓家jiā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The early drawing of 家 showed a roof 宀 over a male-pig sign 𢑓 that gave the pronunciation; the lower part later changed shape.

Open 家 →

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