女人
The Cantonese word for 'woman' is 女人. Wiktionary also lists 女性.
Meaning: adult female person (noun)
Ways to say it
| Cantonese |
|---|
| 女人 |
| 女性 |
In casual spoken Cantonese, 女人 is the most common way to refer to an adult female person.
What does it mean word for word?
The word 女人 is composed of 女 (female) and 人 (person).
Which one should you use?
While 女人 is the standard word for 'woman', 女性 is a more formal or clinical term used to refer to the 'female sex' or 'women' in a sociological or biological context.
Did you know?
- The character 女 is one of the oldest pictographs in Chinese, originally depicting a kneeling woman with crossed legs.
- Cantonese has a specific word 女仔 (girl/young woman) that is used far more frequently in daily conversation than 女人 when referring to peers.
- While 女人 means 'woman', adding the word 心 (heart) creates 女人心, a term describing the unpredictable and mysterious nature of a woman's emotions.
Examples in context
- 個女人好靚。The woman is beautiful.This sentence shows how to describe the beauty of a 女人.Tatoeba #4826774 by kaenif, translation #752469 by Shishir
- 佢係一個好靚嘅女人。She is a woman of great beauty.This sentence illustrates how to describe a person as being a 女人 of great beauty.Tatoeba #1746093 by nickyeow, translation #309012 by CK
- 嗰個女人係邊個嚟㗎？Who is that woman?This sentence shows how to ask about the identity of a 女人.Tatoeba #3869340 by nickyeow, translation #68238 by CK
- 23 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Chi Keung is asking about a new colleague.
- 志強 Chi Keung嗰個女人係新同事呀？go go neoi jan hai san tung si aa?Is that woman a new colleague?
- 美玲 Mei Ling係呀，佢叫美玲。hai aa, keoi giu mai ling.Yes, her name is Mai Ling.
- 志強 Chi Keung佢好似個好聰明嘅女人。keoi hou ci go hou cung ming ge neoi jan.She seems like a very smart woman.
- 美玲 Mei Ling佢確實好叻。keoi cak sit hou lek.She is indeed very capable.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “woman” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
