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小姐 (xiǎo jiě) — young lady; Miss (polite term for a young woman); (slang, potentially offensive) prostitute

Definition

Polite address for a young woman; equals Miss. In modern usage it can imply a sex worker, so 女士 (Ms.) is the safer formal choice. Not a compliment — 少女 emphasizes youth, 女士 emphasizes politeness.

noun
young ladyMiss (polite term for a young woman)(slang, potentially offensive) prostitute
Measure word · 个, 位
Easily confused

Examples

  • 小姐。
    Nà wèi xiǎo jiě shì zhè jiā gōng sī de jīng lǐ.
    That young lady is the manager of this company.
  • 小姐，？
    xiǎo jiě, Qǐng wèn qù huǒ chē zhàn zěn me zǒu?
    Miss, could you tell me how to get to the train station?
  • 小姐，。
    Xiàn zài yǒu xiē dì fāng bù suí biàn jiào xiǎo jiě le, pà yǐn qǐ wù huì.
    Nowadays in some places people don't casually call others 'xiǎojiě' for fear of causing misunderstanding.

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.

小xiǎoyoung
姐jiěsister

小 “young” and 姐 “sister” combine to address a young woman politely.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 八八bāto divide; to separate
  • 丨丨gǔnsmall object

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

Open 小 →

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nǚwoman
Sound part声符shēngfú
且
且qiě姐jiě
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The 女 part points to a woman, and 且 is a sound component.

Open 姐 →
Appears in
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