女杰 (nǚ jié) — outstanding woman; heroine; distinguished woman (by achievement, not class)

Definition

Literary/formal term for a 'heroine' or 'distinguished woman' praised for achievements, not social status (the English 'distinguished woman' alone is misleading — it can suggest class).

noun
outstanding womanheroinedistinguished woman (by achievement, not class)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 女杰。
    Zhè wèi nǚ jié zài kē xué lǐng yù zuò chū le jù dà gòng xiàn.
    This outstanding woman made great contributions in the field of science.
  • 女杰，。
    Lì shǐ shàng yǒu hěn duō nǚ jié, bǐ rú huā mù lán.
    There are many heroines in history, such as Hua Mulan.
  • 女杰，。
    Tā shì yí wèi zhēn zhèng de nǚ jié, zhí dé wǒ men xué xí.
    She is a true heroine, worthy of our emulation.

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
杰jiéoutstanding person

女 means female and 杰 means outstanding person; together they denote a distinguished woman.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 傑; 杰 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
桀
桀jié傑jié
Same sound today

The traditional form 傑 pairs 亻 (person) with 桀 as a sound part; the simplified 杰 is a later shorthand, so its current parts are not the original parts.

Open 杰 →

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