女装 (nǚ zhuāng) — women's clothing; women's wear

Definition

noun

women's clothingwomen's wear

Examples

女装。
Zhè jiā diàn zhuān mén jīng yíng gāo dàng nǚ zhuāng.
This store specializes in high-end women's clothing.
女装。
Zhè ge pǐn pái yǐ nǚ zhuāng shè jì wén míng.
This brand is famous for its women's clothing designs.
女装。
Shí zhuāng zhōu shàng fā bù le xīn de nǚ zhuāng xì liè.
A new women's clothing collection was released at fashion week.

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nǚwomen

装zhuāngattire

女 shows it is for women, and 装 refers to clothing or attire.

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 裝; 装 is its simplified writing.

壯衣裝

Meaning part形符xíngfú

衣衣yīclothes

Sound part声符shēngfú

壯

壯zhuàng裝zhuāng

Same sound today

The traditional form 裝 pairs 衣 (clothes) with 壯 as a sound part; this story is about 裝, not the simplified 装.

Open 装 →