Kanji for Woman — 女

女 is read onna on its own and jo, nyo or nyō in compounds. It means woman or female, and at three strokes it is one of the first characters learned — but the three strokes cross in an order that catches everyone out, so the animation above is worth watching twice.

The shape comes from a figure kneeling with folded arms. As a radical it heads a large family of characters: 好 (like, a woman and a child), 姉 (older sister), 妹 (younger sister), 始 (begin), 安 (cheap, at ease).

In modern usage, 女性 (josei) is the neutral, polite word for a woman; plain 女 (onna) can sound blunt or coarse depending on context, much like calling someone “a female” in English. 彼女 (kanojo) means both “she” and “girlfriend”, which context sorts out.