婦

See also: 妇

婦	U+5A66, 婦 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5A66

← 婥
[U+5A65]

CJK Unified Ideographs

婧 →
[U+5A67]

婦	U+2F866, 婦 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-2F866

← 姘
[U+2F865]

CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement

㛮 →
[U+2F867]

Translingual[edit]

References[edit]

Kangxi Dictionary: page 265, character 14
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6432
Dae Jaweon: page 532, character 13
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1062, character 6
Unihan data for U+5A66

Unihan data for U+2F866

Chinese[edit]

trad.		婦
simp.		妇^*

Glyph origin[edit]

Historical forms of the character 婦
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (帚) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

	Old Chinese
婦	*bɯʔ
帚	*pjuʔ
箒	*pjuʔ
鯞	*pjuʔ

Two possibilities:

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *bɯʔ) : semantic 女 (“woman”) + phonetic 帚 (OC *pjuʔ), as supported by the latest Old Chinese reconstructions; or
Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 女 (“woman”) + 帚 (“broom”) – a woman with a broom.

Etymology[edit]

Compare Tibetan བག་མ (bag ma, “bride”) (Hill, 2019).

Pronunciation[edit]

Mandarin
(Standard)
(Pinyin): fù (fu⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄈㄨˋ

(Chengdu, Sichuanese Pinyin): fu⁴

(Dungan, Cyrillic and Wiktionary): фу (fu, III)
Cantonese
(Guangzhou–Hong Kong, Jyutping): fu⁵, pou⁵

(Taishan, Wiktionary): fu⁴
Hakka
(Sixian, PFS): fu

(Meixian, Guangdong): fu⁴
Jin (Wiktionary): fu³
Northern Min (KCR): hū / bṳ̀
Eastern Min (BUC): hô / bô
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): hū / hǔ / pū / pǔ

(Teochew, Peng'im): hu⁶ / bu⁶
Wu (Wugniu)
- (Northern): ⁶vu

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: fù
  - Zhuyin: ㄈㄨˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: fù
  - Wade–Giles: fu⁴
  - Yale: fù
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: fuh
  - Palladius: фу (fu)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /fu⁵¹/
- (Chengdu)
  - Sichuanese Pinyin: fu⁴
  - Scuanxua Ladinxua Xin Wenz: fu
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /fu²¹³/
- (Dungan)
  - Cyrillic and Wiktionary: фу (fu, III)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /fou⁴⁴/
  (Note: Dungan pronunciation is currently experimental and may be inaccurate.)
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: fu⁵, pou⁵
  - Yale: fúh, póuh
  - Cantonese Pinyin: fu⁵, pou⁵
  - Guangdong Romanization: fu⁵, pou⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /fuː¹³/, /pʰou̯¹³/

Note:

fu5 - literary;
pou5 - colloquial (新婦).

(Taishanese, Taicheng)
- Wiktionary: fu⁴
- Sinological IPA ^(key): /fu²¹/

Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: fu
  - Hakka Romanization System: fu
  - Hagfa Pinyim: fu⁴
  - Sinological IPA: /fu⁵⁵/
- (Meixian)
  - Guangdong: fu⁴
  - Sinological IPA: /fu⁵³/
Jin
- (Taiyuan)⁺
  - Wiktionary: fu³
  - Sinological IPA (old-style): /fu⁴⁵/
Northern Min
- (Jian'ou)
  - Kienning Colloquial Romanized: hū / bṳ̀
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /xu⁵⁵/, /py⁴²/

Note:

hū - literary;
bṳ̀ - colloquial.

Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: hô / bô
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /hou²⁴²/, /pou²⁴²/

Note:

hô - literary;
bô - colloquial (新婦).

Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hū
  - Tâi-lô: hū
  - Phofsit Daibuun: hu
  - IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /hu³³/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /hu²²/
- (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: hǔ
  - Tâi-lô: hǔ
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /hu²²/
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pū
  - Tâi-lô: pū
  - Phofsit Daibuun: pu
  - IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /pu³³/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /pu²²/
- (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: pǔ
  - Tâi-lô: pǔ
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /pu²²/

Note:

hū/hǔ - literary;
pū/pǔ - colloquial (新婦).

(Teochew)
- Peng'im: hu⁶ / bu⁶
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: hŭ / pŭ
- Sinological IPA ^(key): /hu³⁵/, /pu³⁵/

Note:

hu6 - literary;
bu6 - colloquial (新婦).

Wu
- (Shanghai):
  - Wugniu: ⁶vu
  - MiniDict: vu^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ³vu
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /vu²³/

Dialectal data

Variety	Location	edit 婦
Mandarin	Beijing	/fu⁵¹/
	Harbin	/fu⁴⁴/
	Tianjin	/fu⁵³/
	Jinan	/fu²¹/
	Qingdao	/fu²¹³/
	Zhengzhou	/fu²⁴/
	Xi'an	/fu⁴⁴/
	Xining	/fv̩²¹³/
	Yinchuan	/fu¹³/
	Lanzhou	/fu¹³/
	Ürümqi	/fu²¹³/
	Wuhan	/fu³⁵/
	Chengdu	/fu¹³/
	Guiyang	/fu²¹³/
	Kunming	/fu²¹²/
	Nanjing	/fu⁴⁴/
	Hefei	/fu⁵³/
Jin	Taiyuan	/fu⁴⁵/
	Pingyao	/xu³⁵/
	Hohhot	/fu⁵⁵/
Wu	Shanghai	/vu²³/
	Suzhou	/vu³¹/
	Hangzhou	/vu¹³/
	Wenzhou	/vøy³⁵/
Hui	Shexian	/fu²²/ /fu³⁵/
Hui	Tunxi	/fu²⁴/
Xiang	Changsha	/fu⁵⁵/
Xiang	Xiangtan	/ɸu²¹/
Gan	Nanchang	/fu²¹/
Hakka	Meixian	/fu⁵³/
Hakka	Taoyuan	/fu⁵⁵/
Cantonese	Guangzhou	/fu²³/
	Nanning	/fu²⁴/ /pʰu²⁴/
	Hong Kong	/fu¹³/
Min	Xiamen (Hokkien)	/hu²²/ /pu²²/ 新～
	Fuzhou (Eastern Min)	/hou²⁴²/ /pou²⁴²/ 新～
	Jian'ou (Northern Min)	/xu⁴⁴/ /py⁴²/
	Shantou (Teochew)	/hu³⁵/ /pu³⁵/
	Haikou (Hainanese)	/fu³³/ /ʔbu³³/ 新～

Middle Chinese: bjuwX

Rime
Character	婦
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	並 (3)
Final (韻)	尤 (136)
Tone (調)	Rising (X)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	房久切
Baxter	bjuwX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/bɨu^X/
Pan Wuyun	/biu^X/
Shao Rongfen	/biəu^X/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/buw^X/
Li Rong	/biu^X/
Wang Li	/bĭəu^X/
Bernard Karlgren	/bʱi̯ə̯u^X/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	fòu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	fau⁶

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*mə.bəʔ/

(Zhengzhang): /*bɯʔ/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	婦
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	fù
Middle Chinese	‹ bjuw^X ›
Old Chinese	/mə.bəʔ/ (or tsə.-? see Min)
English	woman, wife
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	婦
Reading #	1/1
No.	17550
Phonetic component	帚
Rime group	之
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	婦
Old Chinese	/*bɯʔ/

Definitions[edit]

婦

married woman
少婦／少妇 ― shàofù ― young married woman
woman
婦孺／妇孺 ― fùrú ― women and children
- 婦無公事、休其蠶織。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
  妇无公事、休其蚕织。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]
  From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version
  Fù wú gōngshì, xiū qí cánzhī. [Pinyin]
  So a woman, who has nothing to do with public affairs, leaves her silk-worms and weaving.
- 無自廣以狹人，匹夫匹婦，不獲自盡，民主罔與成厥功。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
  无自广以狭人，匹夫匹妇，不获自尽，民主罔与成厥功。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]
  From: Forged Old Text of the Book of Documents, circa 3^rd – 4^th century CE
  Wú zì guǎng yǐ xiá rén, pǐfū pǐfù, bù huò zì jǐn, mínzhǔ wǎng yǔ chéng jué gōng. [Pinyin]
  Do not think yourself so large as to deem others small. If ordinary men and women do not find the opportunity to give full development to their ability, the people's lord will be without the proper aids to complete his merit.'
wife
夫婦／夫妇 ― fūfù ― husband and wife
- 使君自有婦，羅敷自有夫！ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
  使君自有妇，罗敷自有夫！ [Classical Chinese, simp.]
  From: 陌上桑 (日出東南隅行) "Ballad about Sunrise at the southeast corner", included in New Songs from the Jade Terrace (玉臺新詠) [circa 6th century]. Translated by Anne Birrell
  Shǐjūn zì yǒu fù, Luó Fū zì yǒu fū! [Pinyin]
  You have your own wife, Prefect, Luofu has her own husband!

Compounds[edit]