女流 (nǚ liú) — (derogatory, dated) women as a weaker class, the fairer sex (with condescending connotation)

Definition

A dated, condescending term for women as a class, roughly 'the weaker sex'. It appears in fixed set phrases like 女流之辈 and 女流之见, and is used today mainly to critique sexist language.

noun
(derogatory, dated) women as a weaker classthe fairer sex (with condescending connotation)

Examples

  • 女流，。
    Tā kàn bù qǐ nǚ liú zhī bèi, jué de tā men zuò bù liǎo dà shì.
    He looks down on women, thinking they can't accomplish great things.
  • 女流。
    Zhè zhǒng nǚ liú zhī jiàn zǎo jiù guò shí le.
    This kind of sexist view of women is long outdated.
  • 女流，。
    Bié yòng nǚ liú zhī bèi zhè zhǒng cí, tài bù zūn zhòng rén le.
    Don't use terms like 'the weaker sex' — it's too disrespectful.

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
流liúclass

女 as female and 流 as a class form a dated label for women as a group.

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
水水shuǐwater
Sound part声符shēngfú
㐬
㐬㐬流liú
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

流 has 水, water, and 㐬, which gives the sound. The water part matches meanings such as flow.

Open 流 →

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