■ radical

fù

married woman

How it’s built

Phonosemantic compound. 女 represents the meaning and 帚 represents the sound. The 帚 (broom) component may also be related to the meaning, since women were traditionally responsible for household chores.

女

meaning

woman; female

帚

sound

broom — The pronunciation of 婦 was similar to 帚 in old Chinese, but they no longer sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. 帚 also serves as a meaning component.

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