女性 (nǚ xìng) — woman; the female sex | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

女性 (nǚxìng) means 'women' or 'the female sex' as a category — more formal than the everyday 女人 ('a woman / women') and broader in scope.

noun

womanthe female sex

Measure word · 个

Easily confused

女生nǚ shēnglook-alikefemale student; girl

Examples

女性。
Gōng sī de hěn duō nǚ xìng dōu hěn yǒu néng lì.
Many women in the company are very capable.
女性。
nǚ xìng Yīng gāi shòu dào tóng yàng de zūn zhòng.
Women should receive the same respect.
女性。
Zhè wèi nǚ xìng de yǎn jiǎng hěn jīng cǎi.
This woman's speech was brilliant.

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

性xìngsex or nature

女 gives female and 性 gives sex or nature, yielding woman or the female sex.

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.

忄生性

Meaning part形符xíngfú

忄Written in full as心xīnheart

Sound part声符shēngfú

生

生shēng性xìng

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

性 is built from 忄 (the heart) and 生 (a sound clue). The heart part connects the word to a person's inner nature or quality.

Open 性 →

Appears in