Meaning & readings
lady, woman, wife, bride
On’yomi フ
Kun’yomi よめ
Nanori ね
Origin
The character combines woman (女) with a broom (帚), reflecting the traditional role of women in household work. In ancient times, a woman who managed the home—sweeping, cleaning, and keeping house—was the ideal wife or lady. Over time, the practical image of a woman with a broom came to represent the concept of wife or woman in general, especially one in a domestic or married role. The broom component serves as a visual hint at the duties and social position that defined this word.
Components
- 女
- 帚
Common words
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 11
- Kangxi radical
- 38
- Formation type
- Compound ideographic (combined meanings)
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #671 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+05A66