女形

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
女	形
おんな Grade: 1	かた > がた Grade: 2
kun’yomi

Alternative spelling
女方

Compound of 女 (onna, “woman”) +‎ 形 (kata, “form”). The kata changes to gata as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) おんながた [òńnágátá] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [õ̞nːa̠ɡa̠ta̠]

Noun

女(おんな)形(がた) • (onnagata) ^{←をんながた (wonnagata)?}

1. male actor who plays female roles in kabuki theater: onnagata

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
女	形
Grade: 1	Grade: 2
irregular

Alternative spellings
女方 お山 御山

Appears from the early Edo period, around the mid to late 1600s, originally in reference to doll figurines of courtesans made by Oyama Jirōsaburō (小山次郎三郎).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) お​やま [óꜜyàmà] (Atamadaka – [1])
• (Tokyo) おや​ま [òyáꜜmà] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [o̞ja̠ma̠]

Noun

女形(おやま) • (oyama) ^{←をやま (woyama)?}

1. male actor who plays female roles in kabuki theater: onnagata
2. in puppetry, a female puppet
3. (slang, possibly archaic, chiefly Kansai) a high-end prostitute