她

她 U+5979, 她 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5979 ← 奸 [U+5978] CJK Unified Ideographs 奺 → [U+597A]

Translingual

Stroke order

Han character

她 (radical 38, 女+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 女心木 (VPD), four-corner 4441₂, composition ⿰女也)

References

• KangXi: page 255, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 6046
• Dae Jaweon: page 518, character 5
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 2, page 1029, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5979

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Chinese

Glyph origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲): semantic 女 (“female, woman”) + phonetic 也 (OC *laːlʔ).

Originally a variant of 姐 (jiě, “elder sister”). Later repurposed as a feminine third-person pronoun influenced by European languages, with the glyph being the result of replacing the 人 (“person”) radical in 他 (tā) with 女 (“woman”). Linguist Liu Bannong is credited with coining this use around the 1910s (Bi, 2013).

Etymology 1

For pronunciation and definitions of 她 – see 姐 (“elder sister; young lady; etc.”). (This character, 她, is a variant form of 姐.)

Etymology 2

simp. and trad.		她

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): tā (ta¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄊㄚ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): taa¹
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): thâ
• Min Nan (POJ): thaⁿ / tha / tho
• Wu (Wiktionary): ta (T1)

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Pinyin: tā
    • Zhuyin: ㄊㄚ
    • Wade–Giles: t'a¹
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: ta
    • Tongyong Pinyin: ta
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰä⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: taa¹
    • Yale: tā
    • Cantonese Pinyin: taa¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: ta¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʰäː⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: thâ
    • Hakka Romanization System: ta´
    • Hagfa Pinyim: ta¹
    • Sinological IPA: /tʰa²⁴/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: thaⁿ
    • Tâi-lô: thann
    • Phofsit Daibuun: tvaf
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tʰã³³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /tʰã⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tha
    • Tâi-lô: tha
    • Phofsit Daibuun: taf
    • IPA (Xiamen): /tʰa⁴⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: tho
    • Tâi-lô: tho
    • Phofsit Daibuun: toy
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /tʰɤ⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tʰo³³/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei): /tʰo⁴⁴/

Note:

• thaⁿ/tha - vernacular;
• tho - literary.

Wu

• (Shanghainese)
  • Wiktionary: ta (T1)
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ta̱⁵³/

Definitions

她

1. she, her

   她去了。  ―  Tā qù le.  ―  She went away.

   我認識她。 / 我认识她。  ―  Wǒ rènshi tā.  ―  I know her.

   • 那人說：「你所賜給我、與我同居的女人，她把那樹上的果子給我，我就吃了。」 [MSC, trad.]
     那人说：“你所赐给我、与我同居的女人，她把那树上的果子给我，我就吃了。” [MSC, simp.]

     From: 新標點和合本 (Chinese Union Version with New Punctuation), 創世記 (Genesis) 3:12

     Nà rén shuō: “Nǐ suǒ cì gěi wǒ, yǔ wǒ tóngjū de nǚrén, tā bǎ nà shù shàng de guǒzi gěi wǒ, wǒ jiù chī le.” [Pinyin]

     And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

Usage notes

• Occasionally, 他 (tā) may be used for both genders.

See also

No major Chinese language distinguishes between “he”, “she” and “it” in spoken form, and Mandarin 他／她／它 (tā) is the only instance where such a distinction is made in written form. Thus see the table below for words for “she” in other varieties of Chinese.

Standard Chinese personal pronouns
Person		Singular	Plural
1st	—	我 (wǒ)	我們／我们 (wǒmen)
	inclusive		咱們／咱们 (zánmen)
2nd	male/indefinite	你 (nǐ)	你們／你们 (nǐmen)
	female	妳／你 (nǐ)	妳們／你们 (nǐmen)
	deity	祢 (nǐ)	祢們／祢们 (nǐmen)
	polite	您 (nín)	你們／你们 (nǐmen) 您們／您们 (nínmen)
3rd	male/indefinite	他 (tā)	他們／他们 (tāmen)
	female	她 (tā)	她們／她们 (tāmen)
	deity	祂 (tā)	祂們／祂们 (tāmen)
	animal	牠／它 (tā)	牠們／它们 (tāmen)
	inanimate	它 (tā)	它們／它们 (tāmen)

• 妳／你 (nǐ, “(feminine) you”)

Compounds

• 她們／她们 (tāmen)

• 崇她社

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Japanese

Kanji

她

(uncommon “Hyōgai” kanji)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Readings

• On (unclassified): ち (chi), じ (ji), しゃ (sha), た (ta), い (i)
• Kun: あざる (azaru)

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Vietnamese

Han character

她 (tha)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.