Word
雌
Meaning in Englishfemale (animal)
Animated kanji stroke order
Sentence
Related sentences
Related sentences
There are no published items in this section yet.
Word context
What it means
雌 means female; it denotes the female sex in animals and plants, opposite of 雄.
Main meanings
- Biological female of a species (animals or plants).
- The female aspect or gender in biological contexts, used when discussing reproduction or sex determination.
- Appears in compounds such as 雌性 (shisei) and 雌雄 (shiyū) to discuss female characteristics or the female–male pair.
How to use it
Used primarily in scientific, zoological, or botanical writing; in everyday speech, terms like メス or 女性 are more common when referring to people, while 雌 specifically denotes non-human biology.
Variants and close terms
- 雄 ( osu ) – male; antonym in the same biological context.
- 雌性 (shisei) – female sex, feminine characteristics.
- 雌雄 (shiyū) – the female–male pair; gender dichotomy in animals.
- メス (mesu) – common katakana usage for female in informal or veterinary contexts.
Composition
- 女 — woman; the semantic radical signaling gender.
- the remaining strokes complete the character to denote female sex in living beings.
Word class
Noun (名詞)
Kanji