Chinese
女士
/ny²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂɻ̩⁵¹/
lady(Classifier: 位 m)
- HSK 4
- TOCFL 5
Etymology graph
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Origin
Originally, the combination was close to the literal meaning, i.e., a female 士 (shì, “person from higher, educated social stratum”), a woman whose character, upbringing, and conduct matched those expected of the 士 class. For example, in the Shijing (《詩·大雅·既醉》)
From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Lineage
- characterChinese女 “woman; (only of humans in Standard Chinese) female”
- characterChinese士 “unmarried male; bachelor”
Sources
- HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
- 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
- Written form — n/a
- Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wiktionary: 女士