彼女
Meaning in Englishshe
Animated kanji stroke order
Related sentences
Word context
What it means
What does 彼女 mean? It is a pronoun used to refer to a female person, meaning she or her; in casual conversations it can also denote a girlfriend.
Main meanings
- third-person reference to a female person in everyday speech
- romantic sense as girlfriend in dating contexts
- contextual ambiguity possible in conversation, sometimes requiring clarification via name or context
How to use it
Used in casual speech to refer to a known woman or to a girlfriend; in formal writing or when clarity is needed, use the person's name or a neutral term like その人. Examples: 彼女は今日来た; 彼女と話すのが好きです
Variants and close terms
- she/her — kanojo
- girlfriend — garufurendo
- that woman (demonstrative) — ano onna
Composition
- 彼 = that person or demonstrative
- 女 = woman
Etymology
彼 with kun'yomi kano meaning 'that person' or 'this one', 女 with on'yomi jo meaning 'woman'; together, 彼女 is read kanojo and used to denote a female individual in modern Japanese
Origin
Appeared in classical Japanese as a compound meaning 'that woman'; over centuries its use broadened into the standard third-person feminine pronoun in modern Japanese, with the casual sense of girlfriend arising from romantic contexts.
Word class
pronoun (代名詞)