Meaning of 女子
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- woman
- female
How to use 女子
女子 is more formal or written than 女人 (nǚrén). You often see it in sports, news, and official names, such as women's events or women's schools. Example: 她参加了女子100米比赛。 (Tā cānjiā le nǚzǐ yìbǎi mǐ bǐsài.) She took part in the women's 100-meter race.
女 (nǚ) is a picture-like character for a woman, and 子 (zǐ) means a person or child. Put them together and 女子 (nǚzǐ) is simply a female person, a woman.
Common mistake: In 女子 the 子 keeps its full third tone, zǐ. It is not the neutral-tone suffix zi you hear in 孩子 (háizi) or 房子 (fángzi). Learners also sometimes use 女子 to mean daughter, but daughter is 女儿 (nǚ'ér).
女子 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
女 nǚ · female · 3 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
子 zi · noun suffix · 3 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
Related words
Words that share a character with 女子.
Questions about 女子
What does 女子 mean?
女子 (nǚzǐ) means "woman; female" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 女子?
女子 is made of 2 characters: 女 (3 strokes), 子 (3 strokes). That is 6 strokes in total.
Is 女子 an HSK word?
Yes. 女子 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 女子 and 女人?
Both mean woman. 女人 (nǚrén) is the everyday spoken word. 女子 (nǚzǐ) sounds more formal or literary and is common in sports categories, headlines, and set phrases.
What is the male counterpart of 女子?
The matching word is 男子 (nánzǐ), man. You will often see the pair together, for example 男子比赛 (nánzǐ bǐsài) men's competition and 女子比赛 (nǚzǐ bǐsài) women's competition.