Taxonomy of meanings for 雌:
Additional information about 雌
說文解字: 【雌】,鳥母也。从隹、此聲。 【此移切】
- Criteria
- FEMALE
1. The current general word for a female of any species is cí 雌 (ant. xióng 雄 "male").
2. Nu# 女 (ant. nán 男 "male") refers specifically to human females.
3. Pìn 牝 (ant. mǔ 牡 "male") refers to specifically to females of animals.
4. Zì 牸 refers to females of buffalo, but sometimes also of tiger, rhinoceros, or horse.
5. Mǔ 母 (ant. gōng 公 "male") refers to adult females of some species, including spirits. NB incidentally: Mǔ jī 母雞 is current, while mǔ niǎo 母鳥 does not seem to be found.
6. Kūn 坤 (ant. qián 乾 "metaphysically: male") is a metaphysical way of characterising things as belonging to the female realm. (NB incidentally and irrelevantly as a modern Chinese reflex kūn biǎo 坤錶 "women's watch".)
- Word relations
- Ant: (FEMALE)雄/MALE
Xióng 雄 denotes maleness, but often connotes virility, strength and domination as well. - Ant: (FEMALE)牡/MALE
Mǔ 牡 refers to the male of birds and beasts in purely biological terms. - Ant: (FEMALE)雄/MALE
Xióng 雄 denotes maleness, but often connotes virility, strength and domination as well. - Oppos: (FEMALE)雄/MALE
Xióng 雄 denotes maleness, but often connotes virility, strength and domination as well.