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她 (tā) — she

Definition

The third-person singular pronoun for a female person. Compare with 他 (male) and 它 (thing) — same pronunciation, different characters.

pronoun
she
Easily confused

Examples

  • 她。
    tā Shì wǒ lǎo shī.
    She is my teacher.
  • 她？
    tā Zài jiā ma?
    Is she at home?
  • 她。
    tā Hěn hǎo.
    She is very good.

Origin

Sound + meaning
六书liùshū
形声xíngshēng

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
女女nǚfemale, woman
Sound part声符shēngfú
也
也yě她tā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

她 has 女 (woman) on the left and 也 on the right, which gives a clue to its sound. The shape was made for 'she' by replacing the person part of the same-sounding pronoun with 女.

Appears in
100 Most Frequent Chinese WordsHSK 3.0 Level 1500 Most Frequent Chinese WordsHSK 2.0 Level 11000 Most Frequent Chinese Words2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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