女子

• Reading: じょし
• Romaji: joshi
• Kanji breakdown: 女 (jo) — woman, female; 子 (shi) — child, person
• Pronunciation: /dʑo.ɕi/

Meaning

Woman; girl. A general term for females, especially in formal or categorical contexts.

A noun used to refer to women or girls, particularly in institutional or categorical settings such as sports (女子サッカー), education (女子大学), and statistics. In casual modern usage, 女子 is also popular in compound words like 女子会 (girls' get-together) and 女子力 (feminine appeal).

Examples

1. 女子サッカーの試合を見に行った。 I went to watch a women's soccer game.
2. このクラスは女子が多い。 There are a lot of girls in this class.
3. 友達と女子会をする予定だ。 I'm planning to have a girls' night out with my friends.

Usage Guide

Context: sports, education, social gatherings

Tone: neutral

Origin & History

Composed of 女 (woman, female) and 子 (child, person). In classical Chinese and Japanese, 子 was a respectful suffix for people, so 女子 originally meant 'female person.'

Cultural Context

Era: Classical

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal