乙女

Chinese
2nd heavenly stem female; woman; daughter
simp. and trad.
(乙女)		 乙 女

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from Japanese 乙女 (otome).

Pronunciation

Noun

乙女

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

Japanese
Kanji in this term
乙 女
おと
Grade: S		 め
Grade: 1
kun’yomi

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

Alternative forms

Noun

乙女 (hiragana おとめ, rōmaji otome, historical hiragana をとめ)

  1. daughter
  2. virgin, maiden
  3. little girl, young lady
    命短 (いのちみじか)し、恋 (こい)せよ乙女 (おとめ)
    inochi mijikashi, koiseyo otome
    Life is short; fall in love, young woman.

Derived terms
Derived terms

References
  1. 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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