Word
女の人
Meaning in Englishwoman
Animated kanji stroke order
Word context
What it means
What does 女の人 mean? It refers to an adult woman, used as a neutral, everyday designation for a female person when gender is known or relevant.
Main meanings
- Informal/neutral reference to a woman in conversation and descriptive writing
- Not suitable for very formal contexts where 女性 or 婦人 would be preferred
- Applies to adult women; not used for girls or nonbinary people
How to use it
Used in speech and general writing to refer to a woman when the gender is known or relevant; common in everyday conversation and neutral descriptions; for formal contexts, the synonyms 女性 or 婦人 may be preferred.
Variants and close terms
- 女性 (じょせい, josei) — formal, common for adult women
- 婦人 (ふじん, fujin) — formal/old-fashioned; often seen in newspapers and official contexts
- おんなのひと is the kana rendering of the same term
Composition
- 女: female, woman
- の: genitive/connector
- 人: person
Etymology
Phonetic evolution The term uses kun readings for the kanji: 女 = onna, 人 = hito, linked by の as a genitive connector; pronunciation remains onna no hito in modern Japanese with no major historical sound shifts.
Word class
noun (名詞)