<p>There are detailed answer from the following thread at CantoDict forums on the difference between <a href="http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?1,129669" rel="nofollow noreferrer">女人 and 女子</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>女子 Female - Used in the most formal situations, such as news reporting, e.g., 一名女子 (a female), or 女子組 (the female group as in Olympic sports events), or 小女子 (how a woman addresses herself in historical drama)</em></p>
<p><em>女人 Woman - Used in casual situations, such as daily conversation, e.g., 一個女人 (a woman) or 三個女人一個墟 (three women [make as much noise as] a farmer's market)</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>As for the character 女, it can be a noun or an adjective for &quot;female&quot;.</p>
<p>The only example of <strong>女</strong> as a noun, is with a pronoun, for example 此 (this) as in 此<strong>女</strong> (this <strong>woman</strong>) - a simplified form of 此女子 (this <strong>woman</strong>).</p>
<p>It is only used in classical writing style.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-02T08:52:43.643Z
Oh, now it makes ever more sense, thank you. I find it somewhat debilitating most Chinese resources fail to explain such important things…
MrVocabulary
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-11-01T14:15:14.920Z
2016-11-02T09:33:12.993Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Tang Ho
<p>Are those roughly equivalent? Do they belong to the same register of language?</p>

<p>According to mdbg.net:</p>

<pre><code>女 (nǚ​) – female / woman / daughter
女人 (nǚ​rén​) – woman
女子 (nǚ​zǐ) – woman / female
</code></pre>

<word-choice>
What's the difference in use of 女, 女人 and 女子?
# What's the difference in use of 女, 女人 and 女子?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-11-01)

Are those roughly equivalent? Do they belong to the same register of language?
According to mdbg.net:
女 (nǚ​) – female / woman / daughter
女人 (nǚ​rén​) – woman
女子 (nǚ​zǐ) – woman / female

**Tags:** word-choice


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-11-01. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

There are detailed answer from the following thread at CantoDict forums on the difference between [女人 and 女子](http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?1,129669)

> *女子 Female - Used in the most formal situations, such as news reporting, e.g., 一名女子 (a female), or 女子組 (the female group as in Olympic sports events), or 小女子 (how a woman addresses herself in historical drama)*
>
> *女人 Woman - Used in casual situations, such as daily conversation, e.g., 一個女人 (a woman) or 三個女人一個墟 (three women [make as much noise as] a farmer's market)*

As for the character 女, it can be a noun or an adjective for "female".

The only example of **女** as a noun, is with a pronoun, for example 此 (this) as in 此**女** (this **woman**) - a simplified form of 此女子 (this **woman**).

It is only used in classical writing style.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Oh, now it makes ever more sense, thank you. I find it somewhat debilitating most Chinese resources fail to explain such important things…  

---

