乙女

Japanese

Kanji in this term
乙 女
おと
Grade: S		 め
Grade: 1
kun’yomi

Etymology

/woto2me1/: [wotwome] → [wotome] → /otome/

Compound of おと (oto, cognate with Old Japanese verb 復つ otsu, “to become young”) +‎ 女 (me, “girl, female”).[1][2] Contrasts with 男 (otoko, “man”, original meaning of “boy”).[1][2] See also 娘 (musume), 姫 (hime).

Pronunciation

Noun

乙女 (hiragana おとめ, rōmaji otome, historical hiragana をとめ)

  1. daughter
  2. virgin, maiden
    • 1999 July 5, “音オト女メ [Sonica]”, in BOOSTER 3 (in Japanese), Konami:
      音 (おと)を扱 (あつか)うのが得 (とく)意 (い)なオトメ。音 (おん)符 (ぷ)のカマを使 (つか)い攻 (こう)撃 (げき)する。
      Oto o atsukau no ga tokui na otome. Onpu no kama o tsukai kōgeki suru.
      A maiden proud of her mastery of sound. She attacks with her musical note-shaped scythe.
  3. little girl, young lady
    命短 (いのちみじか)し、恋 (こい)せよ乙女 (おとめ)
    inochi mijikashi, koiseyo otome
    Life is short; fall in love.

Derived terms

References

  1. 1 2 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
  2. 1 2 3 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
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