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女犯 (nǚ fàn) — female offender (in imperial China, historical term)

Definition

Historical term for a female offender in imperial China. Modern Chinese uses 女犯人 or 女囚犯; 女犯 itself is rare and confined to historical/imperial-period writing.

noun
female offender (in imperial China, historical term)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，女犯。
    Zài gǔ dài, nǚ fàn tōng cháng bèi guān zài zhuān mén de nǚ jiān lǐ.
    In ancient times, female offenders were usually kept in special women's prisons.
  • 女犯。
    Zhè wèi nǚ fàn zài yù zhōng xiě xià le zì jǐ de chàn huǐ.
    This female offender wrote her confession in prison.
  • 女犯。
    Lì shǐ shàng duì nǚ fàn de chǔ fá wǎng wǎng bǐ nán xìng fàn rén qīng yì xiē.
    Historically, punishments for female offenders were often lighter than for male offenders.

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
犯fànoffender

女 means female and 犯 means offender, so it denotes a female offender.

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
犬犬quǎn
Sound part声符shēngfú
𢎘
𢎘𢎘犯fàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

犯 combines 犬 and 𢎘: 犬 gives the meaning, and 𢎘 gives the sound.

Open 犯 →
Appears in
Crime & Police

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