女

• Primary: Woman, female, girl.
• Household context: Often functions as a broad category for any female member of a household; may be used interchangeably for "daughter" or "wife" unless more precise terms (e.g., 妻 for wife; 少女 for young girl) are employed.
• Technical/Astronomical: The 10th lunar mansion (the determinative star $\epsilon$ Aquarii), serving as a coordinate in astrological, calendrical, or divination texts.

• Noun: A female person.
• Modifier/Adjective: "Female" or "feminine."
• Classifier: In early legal or ritual registers, it can function as a classifier to denote a specific class of persons subject to particular regulations.

// Tang-period readings: //niǔ, *njiǔ.

• Status vs. Gender: While the glyph denotes biological sex, in many ancient contexts it simultaneously implies a social position (domesticity or subordinate status). The translator should determine if the text is emphasizing gender or relative rank within a hierarchy.
• Semantic Field as Radical: When 女 serves as the semantic marker in compounds, it marks both neutral kinship/biological roles (e.g., 妻, 姑) and terms denoting perceived instability or moral failure (e.g., 姦 "wicked/adulterous," 奴 "slave").