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女皇 (nǚ huáng) — empress (female emperor, regnant rather than consort)

Definition

A ruling female monarch — a woman who holds the imperial title herself. The everyday word for a king's wife is 皇后; 女皇 stresses she IS the emperor, not the emperor's consort.

noun
empress (female emperor, regnant rather than consort)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • ，女皇。
    Wǔ zé tiān shì zhōng guó lì shǐ shàng wéi yī de nǚ huáng dì, bèi chēng wéi nǚ huáng.
    Wu Zetian is the only female emperor in Chinese history, known as the Empress.
  • 女皇。
    Tā zài xiǎo shuō lǐ bèi miáo xiě chéng yí wèi qiáng dà de nǚ huáng.
    She is depicted as a powerful empress in the novel.
  • 女皇。
    Zhè wèi nǚ huáng tǒng zhì le guó jiā wǔ shí nián.
    This empress ruled the country for fifty years.

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
皇huángemperor

女 female + 皇 emperor gives a female emperor.

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
𤼽𤼽𤼽
Sound part声符shēngfú
王
王wáng皇huáng
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The part 𤼽 originally drew a single peacock feather; 王 was later added to give the sound.

Open 皇 →
Appears in
Identity & Titles

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