Radical 38

"nü" redirects here. For one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions, see Girl (Chinese constellation).

Radical 38 or radical woman (女おんな部ぶ) meaning "woman" or "female" is one of the 31 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals total) composed of three strokes.

女おんな
Radical 38 (U+2F25)
女おんな (U+5973) "woman, female"
Pronunciations
Pinyin:	nǚ
Bopomofo:	ㄋㄩˇ
Gwoyeu Romatzyh:	neu
Wade–Giles:	nü3
Cantonese Yale:	néuih
Jyutping:	neoi5
Pe̍h-ōe-jī:	lú
Japanese Kana:	ジョ jo (on'yomi) おんな onna (kun'yomi)
Sino-Korean:	녀 (여) nyeo
Names
Chinese name(s):	(Left) 女おんな字じ旁つくり nǚzìpáng (Bottom) 女おんな字じ底そこ nǚzìdǐ
Japanese name(s):	女偏おんなへん/おんなへん onnahen
Hangul:	계집 gyejip
Stroke order animation

In the Kangxi Dictionary, there are 681 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical.

女おんな is also the 56th indexing component in the Table of Indexing Chinese Character Components predominantly adopted by Simplified Chinese dictionaries published in mainland China.

Evolution

• 
  Oracle bone script character
• 
  Bronze script character
• 
  Large seal script character
• 
  Small seal script character

Derived characters

Strokes	Characters
+0	女おんな
+2	奴やつ 奵 奶
+3	奷 奸 (also SC form of 姦かん) 她 奺 奻 奼 好このみ 奾 奿 妀 妁 如 妃ひ 妄 妅 妆SC (=妝) 妇SC (=婦ふ) 妈SC (=媽)
+4	妉 妊にん 妋 妌 妎 妏 妐 妑 妒 妓ぎ 妔 妕 妖 妗 妘 妙みょう 妚 妛JP (variant form of 媸 in Chinese) 妜 妝 妞 妟 妠 妡 妢 妣 妤 妥 妦 妧 妨さまたげ 妩SC (=嫵) 妪SC (=嫗おうな) 妫SC (=媯)
+5	妬JP (=妒) 妭 妮 妯 妰 妱 妲 妳 妴 妵 妶 妷 (=姪めい / 逸いっ -> 辵) 妸 (=婀) 妹いもうと 妺 妻つま 妼 妽 妾わらわ 妿 姀 姁 姂 姃 姄 姅 姆 姇 姈 姉あねJP (=姊) 姊 始はじめ 姌 姍 姎 姏 姐あね 姑しゅうと 姒 姓せい 委ゆだね 姕 姖 姗SC (=姍)
+6	妍 姘 姙 (=妊にん) 姚 姛 姜きょう 姝 姞 姟 姠 姡 姢 (=娟) 姣 姤 姥うば 姦かん 姧 (=姦かん) 姨 姩 姪めい 姫ひめ (also JP form of 姬ひめ) 姭 姮 姯 姰 姱 姲 姳 姴 姵 姶 姷 姸 (=妍) 姹SC (=奼) 姺 姻 姼 姽 姾 姿すがた 娀 威い 娂 娃 娅SC (=婭) 娆SC (=嬈) 娇SC (=嬌) 娈SC (=孌)
+7	姬ひめ 娉 娊 娋 娌 娍 娎 娏 娐 娑しゃば 娒 娓 娔 娕 娖 娗 娘むすめ 娙 娚 (=嫐 / 喃 -> 口くち / 甥おい -> 生せい) 娛 娜 娝 娞 娟 娠 娡 娢 娣 娤 娥 娦 娧 娨 娩 娪 娫 娭 娮 娯JP (=娛) 娰 娱SC (=娛) 娲SC (=媧) 娳 娴SC (=嫻) 娽
+8	娬 娵 娶めと 娷 娸 娹 娺 娻 娼 娾 娿 (=婀) 婀 婁 婂 婃 婄 婅 婆ばば 婇 婈 婉 婊 婋 婌 婍 婎 婏 (=嬎) 婐 婑 (=婐) 婒 婓 婔 (=婓) 婕 婖 婗 婘 (=眷 -> 目め) 婙 (=婧) 婚こん 婛 婜 婝 婞 婟 婠 婡 婢 婣 (=姻) 婤 婥 婦ふ 婧 婨 婩 婪 婫 婬いん (=淫いん -> 水みず) 婭 婮 婯 (=麗うらら -> 鹿しか) 婰 婱 婲 婳SC (=嫿) 婴SC (=嬰) 婵SC (=嬋) 婶SC (=嬸)
+9	婷 婸 婹 (=偠 -> 人ひと) 婺 婻 婼 婽 婾 (=偷 -> 人ひと / 愉 -> 心しん) 婿むこ 媀 媁 媂 媃 媄 (=美よし -> 羊ひつじ) 媅 媆 媇 (=親おや -> 見み) 媈 媉 媊 媋 媌 媍 (=婦ふ) 媎 (=姐あね) 媏 媑 媒なかだち 媓 媔 媕 媖 媗 媘 媙 媚こび 媛ひめ 媜 媝 媞 媟 媠 媡 媢 媣 媤 媥 媦 媧 媨 媩 媪SC/HK (=媼おうな) 媫 (=婕) 媬 媭SC (=嬃) 媮 (=偷 -> 人ひと / 愉 -> 心しん) 媯 嫏
+10	媐 媰 媱 媲 媳 媴 媵 媶 媷 媸 媹 媺 (=美よし -> 羊ひつじ) 媻 媼おうな 媽 媾 媿 (=愧 -> 心しん) 嫀 (=姺) 嫁よめ 嫂あによめ 嫃 嫄 嫅 嫆 嫇 嫈 嫉 嫊 嫋 (=裊 -> 衣ころも) 嫌いや 嫍 嫎 嫐 嫑 嫒SC (=嬡) 嫓 (=媲) 嫔SC (=嬪)
+11	嫕 嫖 嫗おうな 嫘 嫙 嫚 嫛 嫜 嫝 嫞 嫟 (=暱 -> 日ひ) 嫠 嫡 嫢 嫣 嫤 嫥 嫦 嫧 嫨 (=戁 -> 心しん) 嫩 嫪 嫫 嫬 嫭 嫮 (=嫭) 嫯 嫰 (=嫩) 嫱SC (=嬙) 嫲
+12	嫳 嫴 嫵 嫶 嫷 嫸 嫹 (=媌) 嫺 (=嫻) 嫻 嫼 嫽 嫾 嫿 嬀 (=媯) 嬁 嬂 嬃 嬄 嬅 嬆 嬇 嬈 嬉うれし 嬊 嬋 嬌 嬍 (=美よし -> 羊ひつじ) 嬎 嬏
+13	嬐 嬑 嬒 嬓 嬔 嬕 嬖 嬗 嬘 嬙 嬚 嬛 嬜 嬝 (=裊 -> 衣ころも) 嬞 嬟 嬠 嬡 嬢じょうJP (=孃じょう) 嬴
+14	嬣 嬤 嬥 嬦 嬧 嬨 嬩 嬪 嬫 嬬 嬭 (=奶) 嬮 嬯 嬰 嬱 嬲なぶ 嬳 嬵 嬶かかあ 嬷SC (=嬤)
+15	嬸 嬺 嬻 嬼 嬽
+16	嬹 嬾 (=懶ものぐさ -> 心しん) 嬿
+17	孀 孁 孂 孃じょう 孄 孅 孆 (=嬰)
+18	孇 孈 孉
+19	孊 孋 孌
+20	孍
+21	孎 孏 (=懶ものぐさ -> 心しん)

Controversies over sexism

Some feminists have claimed that many Chinese characters under radical woman are pejorative, 奴やつ (slave), 妖 (demon), 妒 (JP: 妬, envy), 姦かん (Simp.: 奸, rape, traitor), 嫌いや (dislike) for example, and learning and using them may unconsciously lead to misogyny. Some have even proposed a reform of these characters.

In 2010, a mainland Chinese male lawyer posted an essay online, in which he criticized 16 Chinese characters for their sexist implication. The 16 characters were 娱 (娛, entertainment), 耍 (to play with, usually classified under radical 126 而), 婪 (greedy), 嫉 (envy), 妒 (envy), 嫌いや (dislike), 佞 (flattery), 妄 (presumptuous), 妖 (demon), 奴やつ (slave), 妓ぎ (prostitute), 娼 (whore), 奸 (姦かん, rape, traitor), 姘 (extramarital sex), 婊 (bitch), and 嫖 (to visit prostitutes). He also proposed a reform of some characters, e.g. replace 奸 with a newly created Chinese character "犭行" (犭: dog, usually associated with monsters or uncivilized actions; 行くだり: behaviors; the proposed character therefore implies rape is a monstrous behavior), believing that the change would reduce rape cases. Opponents argued that the new characters were historically unsound; that even if they were adopted, they would remain specious and would not effectively improve female's social status. They also pointed out that improvements in legal and social culture aspects were the actual remedy of sexism.

In 2015, an exhibition in Beijing entitled "姦かん: Cultural Codes of Gender Violence" (姦かん：性別せいべつ暴力ぼうりょく伤害的てき文化ぶんか符号ふごう) organized by 65 artists was canceled by the authorities. Still, the idea of this exhibition made its way through international media outlets. Tong Yujie (佟玉洁), the exhibition's academic convener, questioned in her writing: "Why did one woman become three, and such a symbol of political and moral imagination and an object of enmity in traditional Chinese society and political theory?"

A 2014 study done by Wang Yuping from Anhui University's School of Chinese Language and Literature analyzed all Chinese characters with the woman radical in a concise edition of Hanyu Da Cidian (汉语大だい词典简编). The result shows that among these characters, there are 56 with negative meaning, 70 with positive meaning, and 184 are neutral. Nonetheless, the author believed that some of these categories suggested discrimination in traditional Chinese culture.

Similar controversies also exist in "gendered" European languages which have divisions between masculine and feminine terms. This phenomenon is called linguistic sexism.

Character

Alone the character is one of the Kyōiku kanji or Kanji taught in elementary school in Japan. It is a first grade kanji.

Literature

• Fazzioli, Edoardo (1987). Chinese calligraphy : from pictograph to ideogram : the history of 214 essential Chinese/Japanese characters. calligraphy by Rebecca Hon Ko. New York: Abbeville Press. ISBN 0-89659-774-1.
• Lunde, Ken (Jan 5, 2009). "Appendix J: Japanese Character Sets" (PDF). CJKV Information Processing: Chinese, Japanese, Korean & Vietnamese Computing (Second ed.). Sebastopol, Calif.: O'Reilly Media. ISBN 978-0-596-51447-1.

External links

• Unihan Database - U+5973