Meaning of 女性
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- woman
- the female sex
How to use 女性
女性 is a formal, neutral word used in news, statistics, health, and official writing. It can describe women as a group or act like an adjective before a noun. Example: 女性员工越来越多。(Nǚxìng yuángōng yuè lái yuè duō.) There are more and more female employees.
女 (nǚ) means woman and 性 (xìng) means nature or sex, so 女性 is literally "the female sex." Think of it as the formal label you would see on a form, next to 男性 (nánxìng), male.
Common mistake: Learners often use 女性 in casual speech where 女人 (nǚrén) or 女的 (nǚ de) sounds more natural, so saying 那个女性很漂亮 sounds stiff. Also keep the third tone on 女 (nǚ) with the ü sound. Do not say it like nù or nǔ.
女性 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
性 xìng · nature · 8 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Related words
Words that share a character with 女性.
| 女人 | nǚrén | woman |
| 女儿 | nǚ'ér | daughter |
| 女朋友 | nǚpéngyou | girlfriend |
| 女生 | nǚshēng | schoolgirl; female student |
| 女孩儿 | nǚháir | erhua form of 女孩[nu : 3 hai2] |
| 女子 | nǚzǐ | woman; female |
| 性格 | xìnggé | nature; disposition |
| 个性 | gèxìng | individuality; personality |
| 性别 | xìngbié | sex; gender |
| 子女 | zǐnǚ | children; sons and daughters |
| 积极性 | jījíxìng | zeal; initiative |
| 女士 | nǚshì | lady; madam |
Questions about 女性
What does 女性 mean?
女性 (nǚxìng) means "woman; the female sex" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 女性?
女性 is made of 2 characters: 女 (3 strokes), 性 (8 strokes). That is 11 strokes in total.
Is 女性 an HSK word?
Yes. 女性 is on the HSK 5 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 女性 and 女人?
女性 is formal and neutral, used for groups, categories, and written contexts. 女人 (nǚrén) is everyday spoken Chinese and can sometimes carry a casual or even slightly rude tone depending on context.
Can 女性 be used before other nouns like an adjective?
Yes. It often comes directly before a noun to mean female, as in 女性作家 (nǚxìng zuòjiā), female writer, or 女性健康 (nǚxìng jiànkāng), women's health. No 的 is needed in these set phrases.