婦

婦 (Kangxi radical 38, 女+8, 11 strokes, cangjie input 女尸一月 (VSMB), four-corner 4742₇, composition ⿰女帚)

• 𦸱

• 妇

• 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

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

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.

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

婦

1. married woman

   少婦／少妇  ―  shàofù  ―  young married woman

2. 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.'

3. 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!

• →? Proto-Vietic: *-bəːʔ
  • Viet-Muong:
    • Muong: bợ, vợ
    • Middle Vietnamese: 𡞕 (ꞗợ), 𡢼 (ꞗợ)
      • Vietnamese: vợ

• “婦”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. lady
2. woman

• Go-on: ぶ (bu)
• Kan-on: ふう (fū)
• Kan’yō-on: ふ (fu, Jōyō)
• Kun: おんな (onna, 婦)^{←をんな (wonna, 婦, historical)}; つま (tsuma, 婦); よめ (yome, 婦)

From Middle Chinese 婦 (MC bjuwX). Recorded as Middle Korean 부〮 (pwú) (Yale: pwu) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Wikisource 婦 (eumhun 아내 부 (anae bu))

1. Hanja form^? of 부 (“married woman; lady; wife”).

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

婦: Hán Nôm readings: phụ, vợ

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