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

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

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

Derived terms

乙女遊戲 / 乙女游戏 (yǐnǚ yóuxì)

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

(Tokyo) おとめ [òtóꜜmè] (Nakadaka – [2])^[2]
IPA^(key): [o̞to̞me̞]

Noun

乙(おと)女(め) • (otome) ^{←をとめ (wotome)^?}

daughter
virgin, maiden
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

乙女葵(おとめあおい) (otomeaoi)
乙(おと)女(め)心(ごころ) (otomegokoro): girl's feeling
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)チック (otome-chikku): girly
乙女百合(おとめゆり) (otomeyuri)
天(あま)津(つ)乙(おと)女(め) (amatsuotome): celestial maiden
早(さ)乙(おと)女(め) (saotome): young girl

Related terms

少(しょう)女(じょ) (shōjo)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[KDJ-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[1]

[2]