小姐
Chinese edit
small; tiny; few small; tiny; few; young |
older sister | ||
---|---|---|---|
trad. (小姐) | 小 | 姐 | |
simp. #(小姐) | 小 | 姐 |
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
小姐
- Miss (a term of address for a young or unmarried woman)
- young lady
- (chiefly Mainland China, dated or slang) barmaid; prostitute
Usage notes edit
- In mainland China, 小姐 is less used to mean “young lady” because the meaning “prostitute” took over the original meaning; 女士 (nǚshì) is used instead.
- One can still use 小姐 as a title (see the usage example).
- One should not use 小姐 to call a waitress; the neutral word 服務員/服务员 (fúwùyuán) should be used for that instead.
- The definition may revert somewhat in the distant future (as with 姑娘 (gūniang)).
- The term is still used in some compound words such as 大小姐 (dàxiǎojiě).
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
See also edit
References edit
- “Entry #362”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.