乙女

乙女

Chinese

		2nd heavenly stem	female; woman; daughter
trad. (乙女)		乙	女
simp. #(乙女)		乙	女

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 乙(おと)女(め) (otome).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): yǐnǚ

  (Zhuyin): ㄧˇ ㄋㄩˇ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: yǐnǚ [Phonetic: yínǚ]
    • Zhuyin: ㄧˇ ㄋㄩˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: yǐnyǔ
    • Wade–Giles: i³-nü³
    • Yale: yǐ-nyǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: yiineu
    • Palladius: инюй (injuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /i²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ny²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/

Noun

乙女

1. (neologism, slang, ACG) maiden; virgin; pure girl

Derived terms

乙女遊戲／乙女游戏 (yǐnǚ yóuxì)

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Japanese

Kanji in this term
乙	女
おと Grade: S	め Grade: 1
kun’yomi

Alternative forms

• 少女 (less common)

Etymology

⟨woto₂me₁⟩ → /wotome/ → /otome/

From Old Japanese. Found in the Man'yōshū, completed some time after 759 CE.

Compound of おと (oto, cognate with Old Japanese verb 復つ otsu, “to become young”) +‎ 女 (me, “girl, female”).[1][2] Contrasts with 男 (otoko, “man”, original meaning of “boy”).[1][2] See also 娘 (musume, “daughter”), 姫 (hime, “princess”).

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
• (Tokyo) おと​め [òtóꜜmè] (Nakadaka – [2])[2]
• IPA^(key): [o̞to̞me̞]

Noun

乙(おと)女(め) • (otome) ^{←をとめ (wotome)?}

1. daughter
2. virgin, maiden
3. little girl, young lady

   命(いのち)短(みじか)し、恋(こい)せよ乙(おと)女(め)

   inochi mijikashi, koiseyo otome

   Life is short; fall in love, young woman.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 乙(おと)女(め)座(ざ) (Otomeza): Virgo
• 乙(おと)女(め)桜(ざくら) (otomezakura): fairy primrose
• 乙(おと)女(め)心(ごころ) (otomegokoro): girl's feeling
• 乙(おと)女(め)チック (otome-chikku): girly
• 早(さ)乙(おと)女(め) (saotome): young girl
• 天(あま)津(つ)乙(おと)女(め) (amatsuotome): celestial maiden

Related terms

• 少(しょう)女(じょ) (shōjo)

References

1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN